“Ctow  earn  Elni®y  Ci)©aF 

wdEGdomE  a 


■>—  ,i3 

Centenary  Celebration 
of  American  Metliidist 
Missions 


Columbus,  Ohio,  June 
twenty  to  July  thirteen 
Nineteen  nineteen 


The  Missionary  Centenary 

Thanksgiving  —  Confession  —  Intercession 


For  victories — Let  us  thank  God. 

For  shortcomings  and  failures — Let  us  make 
confession. 

For  the  unfinished  task — Let  us  make  our 
plans  large. 

For  growing  world-wide  service — Let  us  gird 
ourselves  with  new  power. 

For  the  next  hundred  years — “Anywhere, 
provided  it  be  forward. 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  of  Methodist  Missions  are 
behind  us.  The  story  of  their  success  is  a  stimulating 
one.  From  its  earliest  days  Methodism  has  stood  for  a 
forward  program.  Its  prophets  and  preachers  have  pro¬ 
claimed  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  to  a  suffering  world  — 
a  world  torn  by  conflicts  between  men  and  nations.  And 
it  has  offered  this  same  gospel  to  the  individual  who  needed 
its  refreshing  and  re-creative  power. 

The  Centenary  Celebration  was  planned  to  commem¬ 
orate  the  history  and  the  achievements  of  the  past  century. 
But  it  not  only  takes  a  backward  look  —  it  takes  in  the 
sweep  of  the  whole  horizon  of  the  present  and  sends  out  a 
call  to  American  Methodism  to  meet  the  problems  of  the 
future. 

This  souvenir  of  the  Celebration,  therefore,  has  a  two¬ 
fold  purpose:  first,  to  give  at  least  a  glimpse  into  the  his¬ 
tory  of  American  Methodism;  and,  second,  to  point  out 
some  of  the  more  serious  problems  which  the  church 
must  frankly  face  and  adequately  meet  if  it  would  help 
win  our  country  and  the  world  for  Christ. 

The  articles  were  written  by  some  of  the  leaders  of 
American  Methodism  and  the  photographs  were  obtained 
from  many  sources  —  the  photographic  department  of  the 
Centenary  Celebration,  Underwood  &  Underwood,  Brown 
Brothers  and  Paul  Thompson  of  New  York,  the  National 
Child  Labor  Committee,  Baker  and  Barnes-Callen  of  Co¬ 
lumbus,  the  Christian  Advocate  of  New  York,  and  Dr.  John 
F.  Goucher  of  Baltimore,  all  made  valuable  contributions. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  either  to  present  all  the  sub¬ 
jects  in  which  Methodism  is  or  should  be  interested,  nor 
to  exhaust  the  themes  which  are  discussed  —  but  merely  to 
outline  some  phases  of  life  and  work  in  order  to  reveal  to 
the  men  and  women  who  are  responsible  for  the  future  of 
the  Church,  the  great  and  ever-expanding  program  by 
which  Methodism  may  help  bring  in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


John  Wesley— Preacher,  Statesman,  Reformer 


‘The  field  is  the  world”— 
‘The  world  is  my  parish 


4  "I  desire  a  league,  of¬ 
fensive  and  defensive, 
with  every  soldier  of 
Jesus  Christ.” 

— John  Wesley. 


2 


John  Wesley — The  Application  of  His  Principles  to  Modern 

Social  and  Religious  Conditions 

By  C.  T.  Winchester 


IF  we  measure  men  by  the  service  they  rendered  to  their 
contemporaries,  we  shall  not  give  that  rank  to  Alex¬ 
ander  Pope,  nor  to  Samuel  John¬ 
son,  nor  to  Edmund  Burke.  We 
shall  name  rather  that  wonderful 
little  man  who,  for  fifty  years, 
rode  from  one  end  of  England  to 
the  other,  usually  with  a  book  in 
one  hand  and  the  reins  in  the 
other,  who  preached  more  than 
forty  thousand  times  to  more  than 
three  million  hearers,  and  who  was 
probably  known  and  revered  by 
more  people  than  any  other  re¬ 
ligious  teacher  that  ever  lived. 
What  did  John  Wesley  accom¬ 
plish  by  this  life  of  tireless,  unselfish  activity?  The  answer 
to  this  question  is  written  large  all  through  the  history  of 
English-speaking  people  since  his  day.  But  some  things  are 
obvious.  The  student  of  English  society  and  morals  will 
tell  you  that  in  his  Journal,  written  day  by  day,  Wesley  has 
given  us  our  most  vivid  and  truthful  picture  of  the  English 
people  of  that  century. 

And  in  that  Journal  we  may  find  the  record  that  Wesley 
was  always  interested  in  education,  and  begun  in  many  places 
some  form  of  elementary  schools ;  that  he  established  the  first 
popular  magazine  in  England ;  that  he  was  a  zealous  advo¬ 
cate  of  all  benevolent  and  philanthropic  activities,  such  as 
the  temperance  movement,  prison  reform,  and  the  suppres¬ 
sion  of  the  slave-trade ;  that  he  did  much  to  correct  the  coarse 
manners  and  discourage  the  brutal  forms  of  amusement 
almost  universal  in  England  early  in  that  century,  and  to 
promote  among  the  lower  classes  sobriety  of  life,  respect  for 
law,  and  more  intelligent  notions  of  citizenship. 

But  he  did  far  more  than  all  this.  He  checked  the  tem¬ 
per  of  religious  scepticism  and  indifference  prevalent  among 
all  classes  at  the  beginning  of  his  ministry,  and  changed  the 
whole  tone  of  English  thought.  At  the  close  of  the  first 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  bitter  irony  of  men 
like  dean  Swift,  and  the  despairing  protest  of  men  like  good 
Bishop  Butler  alike  attest  that  the  spirit  and  power  of  re¬ 
ligion  were  well-nigh  worn  out  of  the  country;  but  by  1790, 
under  the  preaching  of  John  Wesley,  plain  men  and  women 
by  the  hundred  thousand  had  come  to  accept  a  religion  that 
could  be  experienced,  a  religion  that  meant  faith  in  God 
and  love  of  man. 

The  industrial  revolution  that  was  already  beginning  in 
Wesley’s  latest  years,  with  the  introduction  everywhere  of 
new  machinery,  would  have  caused  far  more  widespread 
economic  and  social  disturbance  if  the  miners  of  Newcastle 
and  of  Cornwall,  and  the  new  captains  of  industry,  had  not 
both  learned  lessons  of  Christian  duty  and  charity  from  the 
teaching  of  John  Wesley.  And  best  of  all,  every  advance  in 
the  spiritual  life  of  England  and  America,  every  access  of 
missionary  zeal  that  has  carried  the  gospel  across  the  Atlan¬ 
tic,  over  continents  and  around  the  world,  has  owed  some¬ 
thing  of  its  impulse  and  inspiration  to  the  work  of  the  great 
English  apostle  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

It  is  for  us  to  ask  what  we  can  find  in  this  man’s  character 
and  methods  that  may  serve  us  as  stimulus  and  example  in 
our  endeavors  to  carry  on  in  our  century  the  work  he  so 
nobly  did  in  his. 


1.  He  was  by  inclination  and  training  a  scholar.  He 
knew  the  charm  of  letters  and  the  joy  of  elevated  thought. 
Few  men  read  more  books  than  he,  though  his  study  was 


mostly  in  the  saddle.  He  was  acquainted  with  the  best  that 
was  being  thought  and  done  in  his  day.  His  conversation, 
said  the  best  talker  of  the  century,  “enchants  me” ;  and 
whenever  he  preached,  whether  in  his  own  Oxford  college 
or  before  the  miners  on  Kingswood  common,  he  always  spoke 
from  a  full  mind.  But  all  his  acquirements  were  at  the 
service  of  his  message,  and  he  deemed  no  thought  or  emotion 
too  high  for  the  humblest  audience.  In  his  printed  sermons 
are  passages  that  show  the  power  of  sheer,  absolute  sim¬ 
plicity;  but  he  was  always  afraid  of  rhetoric  or  eloquence, 
and  nothing  made  him  so  impatient  as  hollow  declamation 
or  any  tricks  of  manner  inconsistent  with  perfect  sincerity. 

2.  The  type  of  religious  life  that  Wesley  enjoined  was, 
in  the  best  sense  of  those  words,  practical  and  liberal.  There 
was  little  of  the  mystic  in  his  nature  and  still  less  of  the 
ascetic.  He  held  no  religious  experience  of  much  value  that 
did  not  issue  in  righteous  life,  and  make  the  man  a  better 
neighbor  and  a  better  citizen.  Nor  did  he  ever  attempt  to 
impose  upon  the  members  of  his  societies  any  detailed  state¬ 
ment  of  religious  belief.  It  was  inevitable  that  with  his  clear 
and  logical  intellect,  he  should  demand  for  himself  a  con¬ 
sistent  set  of  theological  opinions;  but  for  others,  he  held 
as  essential  only  those  doctrines  upon  which  all  Christians 
could  agree.  Everybody  remembers  his  statement:  “As  to 
all  opinions  that  do  not  strike  at  the  root  of  Christianity, 
we  think  and  let  think.”  No  other  great  religious  reformer 
has  ever  been  so  liberal.  It  was  Dean  Stanley,  the  greatest 
of  English  Broad  Churchmen,  who  declared  that  John 
Wesley  was  the  real  founder  of  the  Broad  Church. 

3.  But  when  all  is  said,  the  secret  of  Wesley’s  power  is 
to  be  found  in  the  intensity  of  his  religious  life.  Religion 
to  him  —  as  to  those  whom  he  taught  —  meant  simply  love 
to  man  and  faith  in  God  as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  He 
had  doubtless  a  most  remarkable  gift  for  organization;  but 
he  was  never  the  slave  of  organization,  and  he  was  never 
hindered  by  personal  pride  from  making  any  needed  changes 
in  the  plans  he  had  himself  devised.  He  certainly  had  an 
iron  will;  but  he  was  never  arrogant,  and  never  used  his 
power  of  will  to  secure  personal  or  selfish  ends.  All  his 
practical  wisdom  and  all  his  immense  energy  were  in  the 
service  of  his  unselfish  love  for  his  fellow  men ;  and  that  love 
was  sustained  in  all  discouragements  by  an  unfaltering  faith 
in  God,  the  Father  of  Christ,  the  Elder  Brother  of  us  all. 

Certainly  the  church  of  today  can  learn  something  from 
such  an  example.  The  great  work  of  the  preacher  in  turning 
men  from  sin  to  righteousness  e — ■  that  work  changes  but  little 
from  age  to  age  and  will  never  cease.  But  the  special  needs 
and  opportunities  of  our  twentieth  century  are  no  less  urgent 
than  those  of  the  eighteenth  century.  There  are  no  more 
undiscovered  countries,  and  the  missionary  may  now  carry, 
with  comparative  ease,  to  the  remotest  regions  the  truths  and 
blessings  of  the  gospel.  Methodism  can  now  say  more  truly 
.than  its  great  founder  could,  “The  world  is  my  parish.” 

And  in  every  civilized  country  today  thoughtful  men  are 
confronted  with  problems,  social,  industrial,  economic,  more 
difficult  than  the  England  of  Wesley  knew.  It  is  the  age 
of  democracy ;  but  it  is  now  the  great  task  of  the  century  to 
make  this  democracy  safe  for  the  world.  This,  we  may  be 
sure,  can  never  be  fully  done  until  the  relations  of  men  to 
each  other  shall  no  longer  be  determined  by  selfish  com¬ 
petition,  and  men  shall  come  surely  to  believe  and  accept 
those  gracious  words,  “One  is  your  Master,  even  Christ,  and 
all  ye  are  brethren.”  What  greater  work  can  the  church 
have  than  to  hasten  that  day?  What  nobler  hope  can  ani¬ 
mate  the  successors  of  John  Wesley? 


3 


Bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


E  J.  He  CONNELL 


JOSEPH  F.  BERRY 


WILSUR  P. THIRKIELD 


THOMAS  NICHOLSON 


HUG' 


LUThje  B.WILSON 

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W“  A.  QUAYLE 


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TS.HENDEOSONI  I  JOHN  L.  NUELSEN 


RICHARD  J. COOKE 


C.  B.  MITCHELL 


F. 


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OLDHAM 


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4 


Missionary  Bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

9 


5 


Bishops  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South 


JAMES  ATKINS 


WGN.  AINSWORTH 


M.M.DU  BOSE 


JOHN  M.  MOORE  j 


JAMES  CANNON  JR. 


EUGENE  R. HENDRIX 


B.  MURRAH 


WILLIAM  F.McMURRY 


WARREN  A.CANDLER 


JOHN  C.KILGO 


?  W.R.LAMBUTH 


U.V.W.  DARLINGTON 


EDWIN  D.MOUZON 


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6 


Joint  Centenary  Commission 


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BELLE  H. BENNETT 


E.B. CHAPPELL 


W.  H.  <3  GOULD 


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PEPPER 


JOHN 


W.B.  BEAUCHAMP 


EARL  TAYLOR 


W.W.  PIN  SO  PH 


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JOHN 


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1  D.D.  FORSYTH 


R.  A.  WARD 


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G.  M.  FOWLES 

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L.C.  MURDOCK 


JAMES  ATKINS 


7 


Executive  Staff  Centenary  Celebration 


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I  H.  B.  DICKSON 
I  ORGANIZING  SECRETARY 


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L.A.  WARNER 


P.  J.  BURRELL 
DIRECTOR  OF  ENLISTMENT 


DIRECTOR  FINE  ARTS-  |$ 


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S.  EARL  TAYLOR 
DIRECTOR  GENERAL 


J.E.CROWTHER 
ASSOCIATE  DIRECTOR  GENERAL 


W.B. BEAUCHAMP 
CHAIRMAN-PROGRAM  COMMITTEE 


. 


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, 


: 


.  '  • 


W.J. KRAFT 
MUSICAL  DIRECTOR 


MONTGOMERY  LYNCH 
PAGEANT  MUSICAL  DIRECTOR 


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OF 


Conception  and  Development  of  the  Centenary 

By  Ehner  T.  Clark 


'  I  '  HE  greatest  enterprise  of  its  kind  ever  undertaken  by 
any  Christian  denomination  in  human  history  was  an 

attempt  on  the  part  of  a  united 
church  to  fifty  celebrate  the  cen¬ 
tennial  of  American  Methodist 
missions.  When  the  missionary 
leaders  of  the  church  remembered 
that  the  first  Methodist  missionary 
society  in  the  United  States  was 
organized  in  1819,  and  when  they 
gave  thought  to  the  matter  of  a 
suitable  method  of  commemora¬ 
tion,  the  general  plan  of  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  movement  began  to  take 
form.  The  response  on  the  part 
of  both  branches  of  Methodism 
was  hearty  and  enthusiastic,  and  from  its  first  conception  the 
idea  encountered  not  the  slightest  note  of  discouragement 
from  any  source.  Its  appropriateness  was  beyond  question, 
and  its  mighty  objectives  were  never  challenged.  Recog¬ 
nizing  that  the  centennial  occasion  was  of  similar  interest 
to  both  of  the  great  branches  of  the  church,  the  desirability 
of  a  joint  celebration  was  evident,  and  United  Methodism 
undertook  the  great  task  when  the  Joint  Commission  was 
formed  at  Baltimore. 

The  general  lines  along  which  the  plan  should  operate 
were  laid  down  by  the  Joint  Commission  at  Cincinnati, 
when  the  cultural  and  educational  program  were  adopted 
in  outline.  Here  it  was  determined  that  the  four  great 
elements  in  the  movement  to  fitly  celebrate  the  one  hun¬ 
dredth  birthday  of  Methodist  missions  in  this  country  should 
be  Intercession,  Stewardship,  Life  Enlistment,  and  a  Mis¬ 
sionary  Advance.  From  that  day  until  the  Centenary  had 


been  acclaimed  a  triumphant  success  by  the  Christian  world, 
these  remained  unchanged.  And  the  wisdom  which  deter¬ 
mined  upon  their  adoption  has  been  signally  complimented 
by  the  fact  that  this  cultural  policy  has  been  adopted  in  toto 
by  the  Interchurch  World  Movement. 

But  behind  all  the  ideas  of  the  leaders  of  the  church,  there 
has  always  been  the  providence  and  the  leadings  of  God.  In 
its  development,  the  Centenary  movement  has  gone  so  far 
beyond  anything  that  was  in  the  minds  of  those  who  first 
gave  thought  to  the  matter  that  none  can  now  doubt  its 
providential  aspects.  The  time  for  a  mighty  advance  on  the 
part  of  the  church  was  clearly  set  by  the  mills  of  God. 
That  the  centennial  day  should  fall  at  the  time  of  the  world’s 
worst  need,  when  a  ruined  social  order  was  beginning  the 
process  of  reconstruction,  when  the  world  contained  more 
human  suffering  than  at  any  previous  moment,  that  Method¬ 
ists  should  be  in  possession  of  great  wealth,  and  that  a  spirit 
of  sacrifice  and  liberality  should  be  sweeping  the  world  — 
that  these  elements  should  combine  to  form  the  situation 
which  was  faced  by  the  church  was  plainly  not  according  to 
the  manipulation  of  human  instrumentalities.  The  vision 
of  duty  and  opportunity  which  flashed  before  and  was  so 
clearly  grasped  by  Methodism  gave  evidence  that  God  was 
calling  for  a  forward  movement.  And  the  arrangements  of 
all  details  connected  with  the  work  of  outlining  the  plan  and 
carrying  out  the  enterprise  to  such  a  remarkable  conclusion 
also  bore  abundant  witness  to  the  fact  that  the  Spirit  gave 
guidance  and  oversight.  There  are  few  things  in  the  entire 
history  of  the  church  which  bear  on  their  face  more  clear 
indications  of  a  providential  leadership. 

The  entire  nation  has  been  thrilled  by  the  fact  that  a 
religious  denomination,  through  the  instrumentality  of 
methods  and  organization  surpassing  efficiency  those  de- 


9 


veloped  and  used  by  any  of  the  great  welfare  societies,  raised 
multiplied  millions  to  finance  a  world  program.  This  ele¬ 
ment  of  the  Centenary  has  captured  the  imaginations  of  the 
people  until  it  stands  clear-cut  in  the  foreground ;  so  much 
so,  indeed,  that  we  are  liable  to  the  error  of  believing  that 
this  was  the  leading  issue  of  the  movement.  No  man  can 
estimate  the  advantage  to  the  church  of  the  Centenary  fund 
of  millions,  and  neither  can  one  fully  appreciate  the  values 
which  will  come  to  civilization  when  this  fund  shall  have 
erected  churches,  schools,  hospitals,  and  institutions  all  over 
the  world  and  spread  the  culture  of  Christianity  everywhere. 
But  at  the  same  time,  the  Centenary  was  by  no  means  a 
purely  financial  movement  with  business  ends.  It  was  con¬ 
ceived  in  prayer  and  carried  out  as  a  spiritual  enterprise. 
Intercession  and  Stewardship  were  always  considered  more 
important  than  the  campaign  for  funds. 

The  supreme  objective  of  the  Centenary  of  Methodist 
missions  was  and  is  a  revivified  and  revitalized  church,  filled 
with  thoroughly  consecrated  Christians,  going  about  the 
business  of  saving  a  world  in  the  spirit  of  Christ.  And  that 
this  end  has  been  in  a  large  measure  achieved  seems  clearly 
apparent. 

One  of  the  greatest  effects  of  the  movement  has  been  the 
discovery  of  utilization  of  the  latent  power  in  the  man-force 
of  the  church.  The  ecclesiastical  leaders  wisely  threw  the 
burdens  of  responsibility  upon  the  strong  laymen,  and  the 
devotion  with  which  these  men  responded  to  the  large  ap¬ 
peal  has  almost  startled  us.  The  strongest  men  of  the  nation 
have  literally  spent  themselves  in  the  service  of  the  church 
through  the  Centenary,  giving  of  their  time,  thought,  energy, 
and  wealth  unstintedly  to  this  cause.  They  have  spoken 
week  after  week  in  multiplied  thousands  of  churches,  and 
the  information  and  vision  they  thus  gave  to  the  people 
have  literally  revolutionized  the  lives  of  a  multitude  of 
congregations. 

Then  the  Centenary  has  been  responsible  for  an  unparal¬ 
leled  educational  work  among  the  rank  and  file  of  Method¬ 
ism.  For  the  first  time  the  people  understand  the  missionary 
motive.  One  of  the  educational  secretaries  recently  remarked 
that  if  the  movement  should  then  be  dropped,  without 
securing  one  penny  of  the  great  fund,  it  would  still  remain 
the  greatest  performance  the  church  ever  undertook  because 
of  its  educational  values.  Not  only  did  Minute  Men  take 
the  missionary  gospel  everywhere,  but  it  was  also  carried 
out  through  a  stream  of  literature.  This  tremendous  cam¬ 
paign  of  education,  reinforced  as  it  was  by  posters,  adver¬ 
tisements,  and  the  constant  appeal  of  the  religious  press,  has 
created  a  spirit  in  the  body  of  the  church  which  will  never 
pass  away.  It  has  given  us  a  new  church. 

The  Centenary  has  also  gathered  up,  conserved,  and  inter¬ 
preted  into  terms  of  religious  life  the  spirit  of  sacrifice  which 
was  generated  by  the  great  war.  The  struggle  taught  men 
that  their  lives  were  not  their  own,  that  they  owed  higher 
duties  than  those  to  self,  and  that  no  sacrifices  were  too 
hard  to  make  for  principle.  It  was  this  spirit  which  won 
the  war,  and  which  set  the  world  a  new  record  of  benevo¬ 
lence  during  its  continuance.  Christian  men  had  sighed  for 
a  motive  which  would  compel  people  to  serve  the  church  with 
such  devotion  as  they  displayed  toward  the  Red  Cross  and 


the  nation,  and  which  would  make  them  as  loyal  to  their 
religion  as  they  were  to  their  patriotism.  It  was  found  in 
the  Centenary.  This  mighty  movement  has  transferred  the 
spirit  of  sacrifice  from  the  realm  of  secular  affairs  to  the 
very  heart  of  the  church ;  the  truth  of  this  is  evidenced 
from  the  fact  that  the  Centenary  succeeded  with  greater 
dispatch  and  attracted  far  more  attention  than  the  govern¬ 
ment  loan  just  preceding  and  the  welfare  campaign  which 
overlapped  it. 

Closely  allied  to  this  spirit  of  sacrifice  is  the  consciousness 
of  the  fact  and  the  responsibility  of  Stewardship  which  the 
Centenary  has  brought  forward.  Nothing  has  been  so 
sadly  needed  as  a  realization  of  the  doctrine  of  Christian 
Stewardship  and  its  implication,  and  it  has  been  given  to  us. 
Multiplied  thousands  are  covenanted  members  of  a  tither’s 
league,  and  this  movement  is  growing  with  sweeping  regu¬ 
larity.  Here  is  the  fundamental  basis  of  the  reconstruction 
of  the  world.  The  struggle  which  now  faces  the  church  is 
that  between  Christianity  and  materialism,  and  the  doctrine 
of  Stewardship  strikes  at  the  very  foundation  of  the  ma¬ 
terialistic  scheme ;  more  than  any  of  our  philosophic  argu¬ 
ments  or  apologetic  systems,  Christian  Stewardship  will  over¬ 
come  the  paralyzing  influence  of  materialistic  dogma  and 
practice. 

All  of  this  represents  a  distinct  spiritual  awakening 
throughout  the  church,  and  this  awakening  seems  destined 
inevitably  to  issue  in  a  revival  which  will  sweep  the  nation. 
The  Centenary  campaign  revivified  churches  everywhere. 
Congregations  which  had  practically  determined  to  abandon 
their  organization  have  taken  on  new  life  and  launched 
building  enterprises.  Laymen  going  about  asking  for  funds 
have  talked  religion  and  led  men  to  the  kingdom  and  to 
Christ.  Telegrams  and  reports  which  flow  in  breathe  the 
spirit  of  evangelism.  Everywhere  revival  fires  are  about 
to  break  out,  and  the  church  trembles  on  the  verge  of  a 
mighty  revival.  The  Centenary  proved  the  Lord ;  now  He 
is  about  to  pour  out  the  blessing  of  spirituality  which  cannot 
be  contained  in  the  church,  but  which  must  flood  the  world. 
This  is  all  according  to  plan,  and  is  by  no  means  an  adden¬ 
dum  of  the  Centenary.  When  this  spirit  has  been  coupled  to 
the  Centenary  organization  for  purposes  of  encouragement, 
cultivation,  and  conservation  we  confidently  expect  to  see  the 
revival  for  which  the  church  has  so  long  been  praying  and 
hoping. 

With  these  new  elements  in  the  life  of  the  church  as  a 
result  of  the  Centenary,  with  this  new  spirit  abroad  in  the 
land,  we  face  a  year  of  conservation  which  holds  abundant 
fruitage.  With  a  follow-up  plan  as  definite,  as  challenging, 
and  as  thoroughly  organized  as  the  cultural  and  financial 
programs,  Methodism  may  go  on  to  achievement  yet  un¬ 
conceived.  God  has  thus  far  led,  and  the  response  to  His 
leadership  has  created  a  new  era  for  American  Methodism. 
The  results  of  the  Centenary  as  they  will  be  expressed  in 
Africa,  the  Orient,  and  the  islands  of  the  sea  will  not  by  any 
means  tell  the  full  story  of  Centenary  success.  It  can  only 
be  read  by  one  who  looks  deep  into  the  activities  of  the 
church,  into  the  motives  moving  in  human  hearts,  and  into 
the  deeper  plans  which  God  makes  for  the  salvation  of 
the  world. 


io 


Sketches  of  Entrances  at  Celebration 


.  ,  . 

■ 

, 


SSJS 


Sim 


ii 


Hal  .  le.lu.jah!  Hal  _  le.lu.jah!  Hal_le  . 


Hal  .  le.lu.jah!  Hal  .  le_Ju_jah!  Hal.le 

if . 


-  ■ 


t 


Music  at  the  Celebration 


By  W .  J.  Kraft 


IF  we  were  to  turn  back  to  the  time  of  the  Reformation 
and  trace  the  development  of  the  church’s  music  we 

would  find  a  steady  growth  cul¬ 
minating  in  the  climax  reached  at 
this  Centenary. 

Like  every  other  movement  the 
upward  line  has  not  always  been 
a  straight  one,  but  occasionally  has 
curved  down  toward  the  threshold, 
but  the  form  has  been  established 
and  now  we  have  about  reached 
the  apex.  Unfortunately  some 
congregations  still  use  the  so-called 
secular  type  tunes  instead  of  using  the  more  dignified  and 
sacred  type.  Analogy  might  be  made  by  comparing  senti¬ 
mentalism  with  sentiment. 

The  thought  uppermost  in  our  mind  while  planning  the 
musical  numbers  at  this  great  missionary  centenary  was  to 
add  splendor  and  dignity  and  not  lose  sight  of  the  religious 
spirit  as  a  background. 

The  pageant  called  “The  Wafarer”  consists  largely  of 
Oratorio  selections  from  Handel’s  “Messiah,”  and  Gormods 
“Redemption.”  There  is  also  a  number  from  Stainer’s 
“Crucifixion,”  one  by  Mr.  Will  C.  Macfarlane,  and  several 
numbers  written  especially  for  it.  At  the  Sunday  service 
the  anthems  and  hymns  have  been  selected  because  they  con¬ 
tain  spiritual  uplift. 

The  great  organ  built  especially  for  this  occasion  is  an¬ 
other  example  of  the  high  standard  reached.  Here  we  have 
an  instrument  noble  and  majestic,  capable  of  contributing 
its  share  in  the  uplift  of  mankind  either  at  a  service  or  a 
recital.  Let  us  hope  that  this  king  of  instruments  will  so 


stimulate  our  people  that  it  will  not  have  been  a  vain  in¬ 
vestment. 

The  orchestra  of  seventy-five  men  representing  the  Cin¬ 
cinnati  and  Chicago  Symphony  Orchestra  are  to  be  a  won¬ 
derful  help  in  this  Celebration.  They  will  not  only  be  used 
for  symphonic  concerts,  but  also  in  the  pageant  and  Sunday 
services  where,  in  co-operation  with  the  organ,  they  will 
furnish  a  background  for  our  large  chorus. 

The  choruses  participating  in  all  the  events  are  by  all 
means  the  crux  of  the  situation.  The  enthusiasm  shown  is 
certainly  an  expression  of  consecration  to  a  work  so  gigantic 
and  demanding  so  much  of  their  time  that  we  can  express 
our  gratitude  for  the  services  only  by  a  few  kind  remarks. 
We  recognize  how  eager  this  contribution  of  praise  is  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  work  and  worth  of  this  chorus,  but  we  know 
the  assembled  multitude  will  add  their  many  tributes  of  ap¬ 
preciation  of  the  Centenary  chorus. 

The  personnel  of  the  chorus  is  made  of  both  white  and 
colored  singers,  each  group  working  by  itself  toward  the  per¬ 
fection  of  the  whole. 

The  Spirituals  to  be  sung  by  a  selected  group  of  singers 
from  the  Southern  Colleges  under  the  Freedman’s  Aid  So¬ 
ciety  will  prove  an  especially  noteworthy  feature. 

The  children’s  chorus  of  one  thousand  white  and  colored 
boys  and  girls  will  sing  in  the  Children’s  Crusade,  Chil¬ 
dren’s  Day,  Sunday  School  Day,  Fourth  of  July  and  other 
events  planned  for  their  participation. 

The  Trombone  Choir  consisting  of  one  hundred  people, 
organized  about  six  months,  has  made  wonderful  strides  to¬ 
ward  perfection  and  is  now  considered  an  established  entity. 
Their  playing  of  the  church  chorals  will  certainly  endear 
them  to  us  and  be  of  great  value  for  outdoor  gatherings. 

In  addition  there  will  be  at  least  four  great  bands. 


12 


— if — if"  ~W  -  f"  f  f  *i  f“ 

.  V  '  f—  - 

f)  La_ J_ 1 

— Y — Y- - £ — 2 — Y — ^ 

-*-¥ — ' — — H— ' - - - 1 

lu  jah!  Hal_le  _  lu  _  iah!  Hal.  le  _  lu  _  iah! 


13 


The  Wayfarer 

A  PAGEANT  OF  THE  KINGDOM 
By  J.  E.  Crowther 


IN  these  days  of  world  upheaval  with  much  that  is  au¬ 
thoritative  from  the  past  is  being  questioned ;  when  the 

industrial  and  social  order  is  being 
revolutionized ;  when  the  task  of 
reconstructing  the  world  is  so  stu¬ 
pendous,  many  devout  people  find 
themselves  bewildered  and  dis¬ 
couraged.  Some  look  for  escape 
by  way  of  a  physical  cataclysm 
that  shall  usher  in  the  end  of  all 
things.  Many  sit  in  dumb  despair, 
wondering  if  the  church  will 
prove  adequate  to  meet  the  prob¬ 
lems  of  the  new  day.  The 
Wayfarer  represents  this  discour¬ 
aged  element.  He  is  guided  from 
despair  to  faith  and  service  by  Understanding,  who  unfolds 
to  him  the  living  presence  of  the  Christ  in  every  age ;  tri¬ 
umphant  over  all  adversity.  One  word  will  state  the  central 
theme,  Emmanuel  —  “God  with  us.” 

The  pageant  opens  with  the  crash  of  war,  depicting  the 
outbreak  of  the  conflict  in  Europe,  which  has  been  the  cause 
of  so  much  despair.  Then  follows  a  scene  of  desolation 
consequent  upon  the  war,  and  which  forms  the  background 
for  The  Wayfarer,  who  voices  his  depression.  Understand¬ 
ing  then  leads  him  into  Babylon  to  show  to  him  the  condi¬ 

tions  of  despair  of  the  Hebrews,  to  whom  God  had  promised 
that  they  should  be  a  great  people  and  establish  upon  the 
earth  an  everlasting  kingdom.  Nothing  could  be  more  con¬ 
tradictory  and  discouraging  than  this  situation,  but  there 
comes  the  promise  of  the  reign  of  the  Messiah,  and  their 
hearts  take  new  courage. 

The  second  episode,  “The  Christ”  is  a  portrayal  of  the 
life  of  the  Saviour.  God  has  undertaken  to  conquer  the 
world  and  establish  a  kingdom.  How  does  he  begin?  With 


a  Babe  in  Bethlehem.  Then  comes  the  triumphal  entry 
into  Jerusalem.  All  the  outward  aspects  are  those  of  victory, 
but  immediately  on  that  follows  the  crucifixion  of  Christ. 
Here,  if  ever  in  the  history  of  the  world,  it  seemed  as  if  a 
righteous  cause  were  irretrievably  lost.  But  immediately 
following  comes  the  resurrection  and  triumph  of  Christ  over 
death. 

By  this  time  the  Wayfarer  has  come  to  see  that  the  method 
of  God  in  his  dealings  with  men  is  to  use  insignificant  means 
and  circumstances  for  great  ends  —  that  the  most  discour¬ 
aging  situation  is  but  the  prelude  to  a  glorious  triumph. 
Moreover,  instead  of  an  impersonal,  historic  Christ,  Way¬ 
farer  now  possesses  a  living,  dynamic  Saviour,  vitalizing  and 
transforming  his  whole  being. 

The  third  episode  represents  “The  Conquest.”  At  the 
beginning  of  this  episode  the  Wayfarer  has  committed  him¬ 
self  to  the  program  of  world  conquest.  The  triumph  of  the 
kingdom  subsequent  to  the  resurrection  of  Christ  is  portrayed 
in  nine  scenes  of  increasing  power,  until  in  the  grand  finale, 
in  which  the  nations  of  the  earth  have  assembled  to  pay 
their  tribute  to  the  Christ.  The  total  cast  comprises  about 
two  thousand  singers  and  participants,  all  arrayed  in  the 
brilliant  costumes  of  their  various  nationalities. 

One  of  the  great  features  of  the  pageant  is  the  music  with 
which  it  is  accompanied.  This  represents  the  best  from  the 
great  masters,  being  based  chiefly  on  the  music  of  “The 
Messiah.”  In  fact,  the  pageant  was  begun  as  a  dramatiza¬ 
tion  of  “The  Messiah,”  but  subsequently  changed  in  its 
scope  so  as  to  include  other  great  music  not  comprised  in 
Handel’s  Oratorio.  The  central  figure  of  the  entire  pageant 
is  the  Christ,  although  he  is  in  no  instance  impersonated. 

The  author  states  its  mission  in  the  preface,  “If  it  shall  in 
any  degree  exalt  the  Christ ;  foster  the  love  of  great  music, 
and  further  the  presentation  of  truth  in  dramatic  form,  its 
mission  will  have  been  fulfilled.” 


14 


Life  Plays  and  Demonstrations 

By  Alice  M.  Young 


C 


THE  customs  of  the  country  and  the  progress  of  the 
people  from  the  early  primitive  stages  to  the  present 

day  in  the  many  countries  which 
the  church  has  reached  in  its  mis¬ 
sion  of  Christianity  are  depicted 
in  a  series  of  life  plays  and  demon¬ 
strations  consisting  of  pageants, 
short  plays  and  in  pantomime. 
Some  feature  the  religious  devel¬ 
opment  and  others  the  historical 
epochs  of  the  different  countries 
by  bringing  out  some  prominent 
feature  of  the  country  and  explain¬ 
ing  to  us  the  life  of  the  people  in 
its  different  religious  aspects. 

For  example:  on  passing 
through  the  eight  large  buildings  so  full  of  exquisite  curios 
and  gorgeous  architecture,  one  is  transported  as  in  a  twink¬ 
ling  of  an  eye  from  the  golden  sands  of  Central  Africa  with 
its  dusky  people  of  the  Kraal  to  the  northern  part 
where  the  handsome  Berber  chief  and  his  retinue 
kneel  in  worship. 

In  India  one  sees  the  child-wife  leaving  her  home 
in  her  dooli  chair  surrounded  by  her  relatives  and 
friends  who  walk  beside  her  to  the  Zenana  or 
home  of  her  husband  to  be. 

In  the  ancient  walled  city  of  China  one  sees  the 
worshippers  in  the  Temple,  and  from  a  distance 
down  the  Peking  or  Nanking  Road  comes  a  gor¬ 
geous  procession  of  dragon  worshippers. 

In  Latin  America,  it  is  market  day  and  we  see 
the  Peons  with  their  high  hats,  colored  serapes  and 
women  with  their  children  tied  on  their  backs  buy¬ 
ing  and  selling  pottery,  fruits,  and  interesting 
trinkets  of  all  kinds. 

On  to  sunny  Japan,  the  land  of  exquisite  gar¬ 
dens,  Korea,  Malaysia  and  the  Philippines,  each 
one  varying  to  some  extent  in  manners  and  cus¬ 
toms  but  all  abounding  in  beauty, 
life  and  color. 

Devastated  Europe  appalling  in 
all  its  hopelessness  and  the  suffer¬ 
ing  thru  which  it  has  passed  is  seen 
thru  the  crypt  which  is  all  that 
remains  of  the  ruined  Cathe¬ 
dral.  Here  we  see  some  Bel¬ 
gian  wanderers  and 
groups  of  Italian,  French 
and  English  soldiers  and 
we  realize  the  great  international  prob¬ 
lems  that  must  be  solved  and  can  be 
solved  in  no  other  way  than  by  a  dynamic 
spiritual  awakening. 

In  our  own  America  one  is  struck  by 
the  many  intensive  problems  to  be  met 
in  H  ome  Mission  work. 

Here  in  a  metropolitan  city.  At  the 
wharf  a  group  of  Italians,  Germans, 
French,  Polish  and  Russian  Jews  are  met 
by  the  Immigration  Officer,  and  after 
going  through  his  hands  we  see  the  prob¬ 
lem  which  the  city  must  meet  in  regard 
to  these  people. 

We  see  the  organizing  of  a  fron¬ 
tier  church  taking  place  in  a  school 
house  where  the  cow-puncher  is  the 
ring-leader  in  the  enterprise.  Rural 
problems,  and  those  in  the  mining 


town  are  being  met  by  the 
church  as  is  shown  in  a  series  of 
short  demonstrations.  In  the 
rural  negro  section  we  see  a 
group  of  plantation  folk  gathered 
around  their  camp-fire  and  sing¬ 
ing  their  native  melodies. 

In  the  Mex- American,  the 
H  awaiian,  Porto  Rican,  and  the 
Orientals  in  America  composed 
of  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  Koreans 
and  the  Alaskan  and  American 
Indian  sections,  we  see  various 
forms  of  life  and  color  typical  of 
their  different  settings  and  inhab¬ 
ited  by  the  natives  themselves. 

Besides  these  above  named 
demonstrations  there  are  a  num¬ 
ber  of  gorgeous  Pageants  and 
Processions  attended  by  the 
glow  and  color  of  a  chorus 
of  several  hundred  trained 
voices. 

In  Malaysia,  in  a  life 
play  called,  “The  Seeker,” 
who  is  a  symbolical  charac 
ter  representing  the  relig 
ious  spirit  of  the  Malay¬ 
sian  people,  the  quest  of 

the  human  soul  for  the  spirit  of  contentment  is 
sought  for  in  vain  through  spirit  worship,  Buddhism, 
Hinduism,  Mohammedism  and  Confucionism  in  turn, 
only  to  be  found  at  last  in  Christianity. 

“Dinah,  Queen  of  the  Barbarians,”  shows  the  beau¬ 
tiful,  just  and  good  queen  of  a  once  Christian  land 
in  which  Christianity  is  overpowered  by  Commercial 
Mohammedism.  These,  through  their  overwhelming 
numbers,  defeat  her  and  turn  through  avarice  this 
magnificent  and  luxurious  land  into  a  hot-bed  of  Islam. 

The  “Hour  of  Wak¬ 
ing,”  a  life  play  of  the  old 
China  and  the  new,  rep¬ 
resents  China  as  the  Sleep¬ 
ing  Giant,  Feng  Shui, 

Spirits  of  Ances¬ 
tors,  Chinese  Woman¬ 
hood,  and  Poverty  are 
characters  which  appear, 
having  been  called  forth 
by  the  sound  of  a  flute  played  in  the 
old  high  key  of  the  melodies  of  the 
land.  The  Processions  and  numer¬ 
ous  street  scenes  also  take  place  in 
this  pageant. 

“The  Cry  of  the  People”  is  a 
pageant  of  the  early  Mexicans  and 
Aztecs  and  other  peoples  of  Pan- 
America  in  the  gorgeous  costumes  of 
their  early  civilization.  This  beau¬ 
tiful  and  highly  colored  pageant 
shows  the  entrance  of  Christianity 
into  those  lands  meeting  the  real 
needs  of  the  people  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  the  world  and  ends 
with  its  message  of  hope  to  all, 

“Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  Every  Creature.” 


Stewards  and  Other  Helpers 


By  Percy  Jewett  Burrell 


FOUR  hundred  consecrated  men  and  women,  discriminately  selected, 
have  had  intensive  training  under  expert  teachers  in  missionary 
education  and  in  turn  have  imparted  their 

education  and  in  turn  have  imparted  their 

or  the  School  of  Misisons  established  throughout 
Central  Ohio. 

Forty-five  hundred  Stewards  will  be  seen  in 
the  exhibit  buildings,  guarding  and  explaining 
the  exhibits  and  seeking  in  conversation  to  drive 
home  their  missionary  values  and  morals  to  all 
visitors.  Many  of  these  Stewards  will  partici¬ 
pate  in  demonstrations  depicting  native  cus¬ 
toms  and  in  life  plays,  episodes  and  pageants 
of  international  and  inspirational  character. 

All  Trainers  and  Stewards  will  be  dressed  in 
the  costumes  of  the  countries  they  represent 
About  1500  men  and  women  have  been 
trained  to  take  part  in  the  pageant  “The  Way¬ 
farer,”  to  be  preesnted  in  the  Coliseum. 

Here  pageantry  is  used  as  a  dramatic  means  toward  a  spiritual 
end.  Its  purpose  is  to  so  instruct  and  inspire  every  participant 
and  spectator  with  the  world-wide  power  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  that  more  lives,  talents  and  means  will  be  devoted  to  the 
missionary  interests  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Two  thousand  singers  have  been  trained  to  “sing  praises  unto 
the  Lord.”  Five  hundred  of  these  have  been  enlisted  from  the 
colored  churches  of  Columbus.  These  voices  will  be  heard  each 
night  in  the  pageant,  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  on  special  days, 
singing  anthems  and  other  appropriate  music. 

The  3000  boys  and  girls  enlisted  will  do  their  part  in  several 
ways  —  in  the  Coliseum  pageant,  “The  Wayfarer,”  in  “The 
Children’s  Crusade”  pageant,  and  in  the  demonstrations  and 
native  games  of  foreign  countries  and  home  lands.  Some  700 
will  sing  in  the  Crusade  Chorus. 

In  addition  returned  missionaries,  native  Christian  (Nation- 
als),  members  of  area  staffs,  and  district  superintendents  will 
augment  materially  the  number  of  enlisted  workers  so  that  all 
in  all  some  12,000  loyal  helpers,  giving  anywhere  from  6  to 

24  hours  of  service  each 
week  will,  through  what 
will  amount  to  300,000  as¬ 
signments  to  duty,  cover¬ 
ing  20  days  of  the  Cele¬ 
bration,  be  found  doing 
their  full  share  in  reveal¬ 
ing  to  all  how  the  con¬ 
summation  of  the  great 
program  of  the  Centenary 
movement  will  play  a 
powerful  part  in  helping 
Christian  Democracy  to 
save  the  World. 

1.  Russian  Peasants. 

2.  Danish  Maidens. 

3.  Chinese  Boys. 

4.  Hollanders. 

5.  Japanese. 

6.  Filipinos. 


16 


The  Story  of  American  Methodism 

By  Wilbur  F.  Tillett 


THE  story  of  American  Methodism,  its  early  and  hearty 
reception  by  the  settlers  in  this  new  world  and  its  rapid 

growth  and  widespread  influence, 
constitutes  one  of  the  most  inter¬ 
esting  and  glorious  chapters  in 
history  of  modern  Christianity. 
The  interpretation  which  John 
Wesley  gave  to  the  gospel  message 
found  a  most  congenial  soil  in  the 
new  world,  and  proved  to  be  ex¬ 
actly  suited  to  the  moral  and  re¬ 
ligious  conditions  that  met  in 
America  in  the  closing  decades  of 
the  eighteenth  century. 

This  year,  1919,  celebrates  not 
only  the  one  hundredth  anniver¬ 
sary  of  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Foreign  Mission¬ 
ary  Society,  but  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  year  of  the 
first  sending  of  Methodist  preachers  to  this  country  by  Mr. 
Wesley.  It  was  in  1769  that  he  sent  Richard  Boardman 
and  Joseph  Pilmore  to  America  to  preach  the  gospel  of  free 
grace  and  full  salvation  that  had  been  committed  unto  him. 
But  already  two  of  his  converts  and  local  preachers,  emi¬ 
grants  from  Ireland,  had  begun  preaching  here,  possibly  as 
early  as  1764  —  Robert  Strawbridge  at  Sam’s  Creek  in 
Frederick  County,  Maryland,  not  far  from  Baltimore,  and 
Philip  Embury  in  New  York,  the  latter  being  strongly  re¬ 
inforced  by  Barbara  Heck,  a  devout  and  earnest  Methodist 
woman,  also  from  Ireland.  Methodist  historians  are  not 
agreed  as  to  which  of  these  two  places  first  heard  the  gospel 
proclaimed  by  Methodism.  The  old  John  Street  Church 
in  New  York,  located  in  what  was  to  become  the  commercial 
metropolis  of  the  new  world,  was  built  on  the  foundations 
laid  by  Philip  Embury  and  Barbara  Heck,  who  were  strongly 
supported  in  the  religious  work  by  Captain  Webb,  an  officer 
in  the  British  army  who  was  also  a  useful  Methodist  local 
preacher.  These  had  prepared  the  way  for  the  two  men 
sent  by  Mr.  Wesley  in  1769,  and  for  Francis  Asbury  and 
Richard  Wriglet,  who  were  sent  by  Mr.  Wesley  two  years 
later.  Little  did  Mr.  Wesley  think  when  he  sent  Francis 
Asbury  hither  that  in  that  preacher  boy  was  the  coming 
leader  who  was  to  do  more  than  any  other  one  man  in  es¬ 
tablishing  Methodism  in  America  and  whose  name  was  to 
become  the  most  historic  and  honored  in  the  annals  of 
American  Methodism.  It  is  indeed  fitting  that  the  equestrian 
statue  of  this  post  genuinely  American  itinerant  Methodist 
Bishop  should  stand  in  the  capital  of  our  nation  typifying 
what  the  great  itinerant  host  of  Methodist  “circuit-riders” 
have  done  for  this  nation. 

In  this  intervening  century  and  a  half  the  Methodist 
Churches  of  America  (including  Canada,  where  Methodism 
has  done  a  truly  great  work)  have  grown  until  their  records 
now  show  a  membership  of  approximately  eight  million, 
besides  nearly  forty-five  thousand  preachers.  Such  growth 
has  few  if  any  parallels  in  Christian  history.  What  hath 
God  wrought?  Only  by  divine  aid  could  the  forces  of  any 
church  have  achieved  such  results. 

In  1773  Methodism  had  grown  strong  enough  to  hold 
its  first  conference  in  this  Country,  with  ten  preachers  pres¬ 
ent,  and  these  reported  1160  members.  Ten  years  later, 
at  the  end  of  the  Revolutionary  War  (1783),  in  spite  of  dis¬ 
organized  conditions,  the  number  of  ministers  had  increased 
to  eighty  and  the  number  of  members  to  15,000.  Political 
conditions  greatly  favored  the  growth  of  Methodism  at  this 
period  in  our  history.  The  Episcopal  clergymen,  identified 
as  they  were  with  the  Church  of  England,  had  become  un¬ 
acceptable  and  had  largely  fled  the  country  and  returned  to 


England  during  the  war ;  and  this  opened  a  large  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  Methodism  and  other  religious  denominations 
here.  Mr.  Wesley  was  quick  to  take  in  the  situation  and  to 
meet  the  need  for  preachers  in  this  country  as  far  as  he 
could.  He  requested  the  Bishops  of  the  Church  of  England 
(in  which  church  he  was  himself  an  ordained  presbyter) 
to  ordain  some  of  his  preachers  that  they  might  come  to  this 
country  with  full  authority,  not  only  to  preach,  but  to  ad¬ 
minister  the  sacraments.  Upon  their  refusal,  he  proceeded 
to  exercise  what  he  considered  his  scriptural  right  as  a  pres¬ 
byter  or  bishop  (which  terms  he  regarded  as  but  two 
different  names  used  in  the  New  Testament  for  the  one 
ministerial  office)  and  ordained  men  for  ministerial  service 
and  sent  them  at  once  to  this  country. 

Notable  among  those  whom  he  ordained  in  the  year  fol¬ 
lowing  the  close  of  the  war  1784  was  Dr.  Thomas  Coke, 
a  Presbyterian  of  the  Church  of  England,  whom  he  set  apart 
by  ordination  and  appointed  to  serve  as  general  superintend¬ 
ent  of  the  work  of  Methodism  in  this  country.  He  in¬ 
structed  Dr.  Coke  to  ordain  Francis  Asbury  as  an  associate 
general  superintendent.  Immediately  following  the  arrival 
of  Dr.  Coke  a  General  Conference  of  the  ministers  was 
called  for  Dec.  24,  1784,  in  Lovely  Lane  Chapel,  Balti¬ 
more  (now  perpetuated  in  the  First  Methodist  Church  of 
that  city).  It  was  attended  by  sixty  ministers  who  welcomed 
Dr.  Coke  with  great  joy  and  proceeded  at  once  to  organize 
the  Methodist  forces  into  a  church  which  they  designated 
as  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Asbury  fully 
appreciated  Mr.  Wesley’s  selection  of  him  as  a  general 
superintendent  but,  having  become  thoroughly  Americanized 
and  possessed  of  democratic  ideals  he  declined  to  be  ordained 
to  this  office  unless  his  brethren  should  ratify  and  confirm 
Mr.  Wesley’s  appointment  by  their  own  free  votes.  This 
they  did  promptly  and  heartily.  Coke  and  Asbury  allowed 
themselves  to  be  designated  as  “Bishops,”  which  was  quite 
contrary  to  Mr.  Wesley’s  wishes,  and  called  forth  from  him 
a  severe  rebuke. 

American  Methodism  has  had  its  schisms  and  divisions 
like  all  other  branches  of  the  Christian  Church  —  that  in 
1792  by  O’Kelly  who  thought  he  saw  dangerous  autocratic 
tendencies  in  the  newly  fledged  Episcopacy;  that  in  1830  of 
the  Methodist  Protestants  whose  demands  for  the  larger 
recognition  and  participation  of  the  laity  in  the  conduct  of 
the  affairs  of  the  church,  resulted  in  their  organization  into 
a  separate  church;  and  most  notable  of  all,  that  in  1844, 
when  the  General  Conference  finding  that  it  was  impossible 
for  Methodists  North  and  South  to  agree  as  to  the  proper 
method  of  dealing  with  slave  owners  in  the  church,  decided 
to  divide  the  church  and  leave  each  section  free  to  manage 
its  own  affairs.  These  and  other  divisions  have  served  as 
safety  valves  and  have  not  checked  in  any  way  the  growth 
of  the  church  as  a  whole.  But  now  that  a  genuinely  demo¬ 
cratic  Episcopacy  has  become  the  definite  and  fixed  ideal  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  North  and  South;  now 
that  the  laity  (including  the  women)  have  been  admitted 
to  their  rights  and  to  a  large  and  full  place  in  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  the  church,  and  now  that  slavery  is  a  dead  and  long- 
gone  issue,  why  should  not  all  American  Methodists  find  a 
way  to  come  together  again?  Surely  Methodist  statesman¬ 
ship  can  find  a  way  to  solve  the  problem  of  our  unification. 
And  what  time  is  better  than  the  present,  when  our  hearts 
are  all  filled  with  a  common  gratitude  for  the  blessings  of 
the  past  and  with  a  common  passion  for  the  evangelization 
of  the  whole  world  in  the  years  of  glorious  opportunity  that 
are  ahead  of  us?  Now,  when  our  brave  boys  are  coming 
back  from  across  where  they  fought  and  some  died,  to  end 
strife  among  nations  and  usher  in  the  age  of  peace  and 
brotherly  love  —  now  is  the  time! 


17 


Two  of  Methodism’s  Great  Early  Leaders 


The  Ordination  of  Bishop 
Asbury 


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Francis  Asbury 


Nathan  Bangs 


Francis  Asbury 

By  Ezra  S.  Tipple 


THE  story  of  Francis  Asbury  is  the  story  of  a  spiritual 
passion,  the  record  of  a  missionary  career,  surpassingly 

great.  From  the  beginning  Meth¬ 
odism  was  essentially  a  missionary 
movement,  home  and  foreign.  By 
the  time  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  America  was  organized, 
at  the  Christmas  Conference  in 
Baltimore  in  1784,  missions  had 
become  a  denominational  habit. 
More  than  any  other,  Asbury  rep¬ 
resented  in  his  own  person  the 
missionary  enterprise,  was  the  in¬ 
carnation  of  the  missionary  spirit. 

H  is  call  was  less  dramatic 
than  that  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi, 
but  quite  as  compelling.  It  was  while  standing  at  a  forge 
in  the  beautiful  valley  of  Hempstead,  England,  that  he  heard 
the  arresting  voice,  “Go  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  House  of 
Israel;  and  as  ye  go  preach,  saying  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
is  at  hand;  heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers,  raise  the  dead, 
cast  out  devils.  Freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give.”  The 
opportunity  came  to  him  in  1771,  when  at  the  Conference  in 
Bristol,  John  Wesley  trumpeted  the  challenge,  “Our  breth¬ 
ren  in  America  call  aloud  for  help,  who  will  go?”  On  the 
instant,  as  if  summoned  to  the  judgment  bar  of  God,  there 
sprang  to  his  feet  a  young  man  of  twenty-six,  with  a  restless 
nature  like  David  Livingstone  and  William  Taylor,  with 
a  capacity  for  suffering  as  remarkable  as  that  of  Isaac  Jogues, 
with  a  zeal  incandescent  as  that  of  Ignatius  Loyola,  only 
five  feet  nine  inches  tall,  but  morally  a  giant,  with  as  ardent 
spiritual  aspirations  as  Thomas  a’Kempis,  unimaginative 
yet  not  without  vision,  not  brilliant  but  audacious,  untiring, 
with  a  will  to  achieve,  and,  accepted  for  missionary  service 
in  America,  Francis  Asbury  returned  home  to  bid  a  final 
farewell  to  his  parents  and  then  took  ship  across  the  Atlantic. 

His  purpose  in  coming  to  America  as  written  in  his 
Journal  on  the  voyage  has  become  classic:  “Whither  am  I 
going?  To  the  new  world.  What  to  do?  To  gain  honor? 
No,  if  I  know  my  own  heart.  To  get  money?  No,  I  am 
going  to  live  to  God,  and  to  get  others  to  do  so.”  Here 
you  have  the  uncovered  secret  of  Francis  Asbury’s  life  and 
labors  in  America.  This  love  of  souls  which  was  ever  a 


flaming  passion  alone  accounts  for  his  undying  devotion  and 
his  grim  endurance  of  hardships.  To  him  Methodism  was 
Evangelism.  Human  beings  were  the  only  priceless  things, 
so,  like  an  arrow  through  the  air  he  sped  from  place  to  place 
crying,  “I  call  heaven  and  earth  to  record  against  you  this 
day,  that  I  have  set  before  you  life  and  death,  blessing  and 
cursing;  therefore,  choose  life  that  both  thou  and  thy  seed 
may  live.”  This  spiritual  passion  for  souls  is  the  explan¬ 
ation  of  his  ceaseless  wanderings. 

On  landing  he  immediately  began  his  unmatched  itinerant 
career.  His  home  was  “on  the  road.”  He  had  no  other. 
When  he  came  to  America  he  rented  no  house.  He  hired  no 
lodgings  but  simply  set  out  upon  the  long  road  and  was 
still  traveling  45  years  later  when  Death  finally  caught  up 
with  him.  He  literally  went  everywhere.  In  his  annual 
or  semi-annual  Episcopal  journeys  he  visited  practically  every 
state  every  year.  His  journal  shows  that  he  went  into 
Pennsylvania  78  times,  Maryland  80,  North  Carolina  63, 
South  Carolina  46,  Virginia  84,  Tennessee  and  Georgia  20, 
New  York  more  than  50  times  and  New  Jersey  over  60. 
The  difficulties  of  travel,  the  hardships  which  he  had  to 
endure,  the  perils  which  everywhere  beset  his  path,  his 
bodily  weaknesses  and  sufferings  must  all  be  understood  to 
appreciate  the  full  measure  of  his  devotion  to  his  missionary 
purpose,  and  throughout  his  long  life  from  this  one  great 
purpose  he  never  wavered,  never  deviated,  never  retreated. 
The  glorious  gospel  he  preached  in  1771,  the  year  he  landed 
in  America,  he  preached  in  1816  when  ennobled  by  suffering 
and  enriched  by  many  and  various  experiences,  now  without 
strength  to  walk  to  church,  he  is  carried  in  the  arms  of  a 
friend,  like  a  tired  child  at  the  end  of  a  busy  day,  and  placed 
in  a  chair  on  the  table  in  the  church  and  in  much  pain  and 
great  weakness  makes  his  last  exhortation. 

This  republic  would  have  been  a  far  different  country  had 
Francis  Asbury,  filled  with  missionary  zeal,  not  come  to  it 
in  its  formative  period.  Wherever  he  went  he  was  a 
prophet  of  righteousness.  He  spoke  in  a  thousand  homes  on 
the  frontiers  and  wherever  he  lodged  he  lifted  men’s  thoughts 
to  God  and  instilled  ideas  of  morality.  He  builded  altars 
in  almost  every  city  and  town  in  the  United  States  and 
kindled  fires  thereon  which  are  still  burning.  He  preached 
the  doctrine  of  human  democracy  when  the  nation  was  in 
the  midst  of  a  gigantic  struggle  with  paternalism  and  aris¬ 
tocracy.  He  inculcated  respect  for  the  law  and  order  and 
created  ideals  of  brotherhood  and  citizenship  along  the 
mountain  trails  and  through  the  trackless  forests  where 
civilization  walked  with  slow  but  conquering  step.  He  chal- 


18 


lenged  despair  with  the  blessed  hope  of  the  gospel  and 
brought  to  the  lonely  the  companionship  of  his  Christ.  He 
hurled  anathemas  against  sin  and  vice,  personal  and  national, 
and  started  crusades  against  the  iniquitous  business  of  the 
saloon  which,  gathering  momentum  with  every  passing  year, 
have  finally  resulted  in  national  prohibition ;  he  comforted 
myriads  in  their  sorrows  and  agonies  and,  like  a  tender  and 
faithful  shepherd,  sought  for  lost  sheep  from  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  to  the  Southern  sea,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Blue 
Grass  lands  of  Kentucky;  he  prayed  in  ten  thousand  house¬ 
holds,  preached  seventeen  thousand  sermons  and  won  multi¬ 
tudes  to  Christ,  making  a  contribution  second  to  no  other 
man  in  the  creation  and  development  of  high  national  ideals 
of  patriotism  and  religion  in  the  new  republic. 

Not  a  college  trained  man,  life  to  him  was  a  long  school- 
day.  He  sat  at  the  feet  of  some  of  life’s  greatest  teachers, 
such  as  pain,  hunger,  cold,  opportunity,  a  vast  wilderness  and 
a  few  great  books.  God,  nature  and  solitude  were  among 
his  instructors.  And  he  did  the  tasks  they  set  for  him  and 
learned  the  lessons  they  taught  him  and  became  wise.  He 
sat  in  the  open  and  listened  and  there  came  a  day  when 
music  dropped  like  honey  from  his  lips.  He  knelt  and 
prayed  out  under  the  stars  and  when  he  spoke,  men  said  it 
was  the  voice  of  God.  He  looked  into  the  faces  of  men 
and  they  saw  he  had  understanding  and  obeyed  his  will.  He 
was  an  effective  preacher,  an  organizer  with  genius  and 
vision,  a  founder  of  schools,  and  a  wise  and  successful  ad¬ 
ministrator,  but  his  rank  as  a  missionary  in  America  rests 
upon  something  else.  The  glory  of  his  distinguished  career 
is  to  be  found  in  the  supreme  teaching  of  his  long  life, 
“Except  a  grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it 
abideth  alone;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit.” 
Losing  his  life  he  found  it,  and  out  of  his  sacrifice  and  that 
of  others  has  come  this  great  Centenary  movement  which 
seeks  to  establish  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  all  the  earth. 


Nathan  Bangs 

By  H.  F.  Rail 

\J ISCOUNT  MORLEY  has  defined  a  leader  as  one  who 
forsees  changes  and  then  shapes  institutions  and 

moulds  men’s  thoughts  and  pur¬ 
poses  to  meet  them.  Nathan  Bangs 
was  a  real  leader  in  this  sense. 
From  1808,  when  he  attended  his 
first  General  Conference,  to  1852, 
which  was  his  last,  there  was 
hardly  a  notable  movement  in  the 
church  that  did  not  feel  his  im¬ 
press.  And  his  influence  was  due 
to  qualities  such  as  Morley  men¬ 
tions:  courage  of  decision,  vigor  in 
action,  the  vision  of  possibilities, 
and  sound  common  sense. 

Methodism  was  a  providential 
instrument  for  the  new  world.  On  the  one  hand  was  its 
quickening  gospel  message,  on  the  other  its  marvelous  system 
of  the  itinerancy.  The  foundations  of  a  new  nation  were 
being  laid.  America  was  no  longer  a  ribbon  of  colonies 
along  the  coast.  The  pioneer  spirit  was  thrusting  out  its 
children  through  forests,  over  mountain  pass,  down  the 
westward  flowing  rivers,  out  upon  the  plains.  The  tradi¬ 
tional  ministry,  educated,  settled,  well  supported,  could  not 
meet  the  need,  and  the  itinerant  came  in.  The  typical 
itinerant  was  young,  unmarried,  without  special  education; 
but  his  heart  was  warm,  his  courage  was  high,  his  devotion 
was  apostolic,  and  he  proclaimed  a  convincing  gospel  in  words 
that  every  man  could  understand.  Free  from  domestic  ties, 
he  traveled  his  long  circuit  and  lived  on  the  most  meager 
support. 


When  Nathan  Bangs  began  his  work  Methodism  was  fac¬ 
ing  a  new  problem,  that  of  effective  work  in  the  settled  com¬ 
munities.  She  had  developed  her  system  for  different  con¬ 
ditions.  What  was  admirable  on  the  frontier  circuit  might 
be  inadequate  elsewhere.  She  required  no  education  of  her 
preachers,  and  provided  for  none,  not  even  a  conference 
course  of  study.  She  gave  her  ministers  meager  compen¬ 
sation.  When  a  preacher  married  and  had  a  family  to  sup¬ 
port  it  usually  meant  his  “location,”  that  is,  his  withdrawal 
from  active  service.  Up  to  1814,  for  example,  1616  men 
had  been  received  into  the  ministry  in  full  connection. 
Omitting  the  608  who  were  still  in  active  service  in  that 
year,  the  average  time  in  the  ministry  of  the  remaining  1008 
men  was  not  quite  seven  years.  Only  twenty-six  of  these 
men  had  served  more  than  twenty  years.  And  of  the  thou¬ 
sand  and  eight  men  who  had  dropped  out  of  the  ranks  over 
eight  hundred  had  “located.” 

Thus  the  church,  lacking  educated  ministers,  was  at  the 
same  time  losing  the  men  who  had  gotten  a  training  from 
practical  experience. 

Further,  the  church  was  failing  to  see  its  larger  tasks 
lying  beyond  its  great  evangelistic  calling,  especially  its  edu¬ 
cational  mission.  Catechetical  instruction  was  infrequent. 
The  Sunday  School,  just  coming  in,  was  primarily  for  the 
children  of  the  poor.  Methodism  had  no  church  papers  or 
journals,  and  was  circulating  few  books.  The  full  list  of 
books  put  out  by  the  Book  Concern  could  be  bought  for 
thirty  dollars.  It  had  no  higher  institution  of  learning. 

In  the  light  of  these  conditions  we  must  judge  what 
Nathan  Bangs  did.  With  a  broad  vision,  a  deep  devotion 
to  the  church,  and  an  equal  vigor  of  mind  and  will,  he 
planned  to  fit  the  church  for  its  tasks.  To  stem  the  tide  of 
locations,  he  demanded  better  pay  for  the  preachers  and 
parsonages  for  their  families.  He  proposed  the  conference 
course  of  study,  to  be  prepared  by  the  bishops  or  a  com¬ 
mittee  appointed  by  them.  It  took  three  or  four  days’  debate 
to  win  the  General  Conference  of  1816  to  these  simple  pro¬ 
posals.  He  won  out  against  similar  opposition  and  com¬ 
mitted  the  church  to  the  founding  of  seminaries  and  col¬ 
leges.  He  began  the  real  history  of  the  Methodist  Book 
Concern  as  an  effective  publishing  house.  Before  he  took 
charge  it  had  no  premises  of  its  own,  no  press,  no  bindery, 
no  journals.  He  was  the  real  father  of  our  great  periodical 
literature. 

All  this  prepared  him  for  his  last  and  greatest  service  to 
the  church,  the  founding  of  the  missionary  society.  It  doe* 
not  detract  from  the  credit  due  to  others  to  point  out  that 
Dr.  Bangs  framed  its  constitution,  served  as  its  first  presiding 
officer,  and  directed  its  work  for  many  years.  Here  again 
it  was  his  insight  that  made  him  the  leader  and  showed  him 
the  task  of  the  church.  Methodism  was  missionary  long 
before  the  Missionary  Society.  The  old  itinerant  was  a 
missionary  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word.  But  the  time 
had  come  for  the  organization  of  a  distinct  society,  and  this 
for  several  reasons.  Foremost  was  the  need  of  the  great 
frontier,  and  of  organized  and  adequate  support  for  the 
itinerants  on  the  distant  firing  line.  It  would  no  longer  do 
to  depend  upon  the  sums  that  could  be  gathered  and  dis¬ 
tributed  individually  as  Bishop  Asbury  had  done.  Second 
came  the  summons  of  fields  of  special  need.  Missions  to  the 
Indians  were  of  first  interest,  though  the  work  among  the 
French  in  Canada  and  Louisiana  by  men  who  could  speak 
in  that  language  was  considered.  Third  came  the  thought 
of  work  in  foreign  lands,  with  the  Spanish  speaking  peoples 
in  South  America,  in  Africa,  and  elsewhere.  And  back  of 
all  this  the  final  fact  that  the  resources  of  Methodism  in  the 
settled  communities  formed  a  growing  power  that  could 
be  used  for  these  great  ends.  The  story  of  the  society  be¬ 
longs  elsewhere,  but  his  share  in  this  alone  will  suffice  to 
keep  alive  the  name  of  Nathan  Bangs.  He  showed  the 
Methodism  of  his  day  its  task  and  rallied  its  forces.  His 
spirit  repeats  through  the  Centenary  the  challenge  of  a  larger 
program  to  our  day. 


19 


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20 


Historic  Buildings  of  Methodism 


/esley  Chape 
(John  Street 
Church) 


Wesley’s  Foundery 

hapel,  London 
(Left) 


1739 


Barratt’s  Chapel, 
near  Frederica,  Del 
(Left) 


Home  of 


21 


itsfe 


First  Things  in  Methodism 

By  John  F.  Goucher 


BRITISH  WESLEYAN  METHODISM 

1728.  “The  Holy  Club”  was  organized  at  Oxford  by 
Charles  Wesley  and  two  others. 

1729.  John  Wesley  became  the 
leader  on  his  return  to  Oxford. 

1736.  John  Wesley  was  awak¬ 
ened  to  the  necessity  of  spiritual 
regeneration. 

1738,  May  26.  John  Wesley 
was  converted,  his  “heart  being 
strangely  warmed”  at  Alder’s 
Gate  meeting. 

1739.  Commenced  to  preach 
the  doctrine  of  personal  regenera¬ 
tion. 

Organized  the  first  “band”  for 
conference  and  instruction. 

Organized  the  first  Methodist  Society. 

Laid  the  corner-stone  of  his  first  chapel. 

1740.  Appointed  Thomas  Maxwell  to  continue  work¬ 
ing  as  a  local  preacher. 

1744,  June  25.  The  first  Conference  of  the  British 
Wesleyan  Societies  convened. 

1766.  Philip  Embury  began  to  preach  in  New  York  City 
in  the  fall,  and  organized  the  first  British  Wesleyan  Society 
in  New  York  City. 

1768.  The  ground  was  leased  and  the  first  building  for 
British  Wesleyan  preaching  in  New  York  was  commenced 
by  the  John  Street  congregation. 

John  Wesley  was  requested  to  have  a  missionary  sent  to 
Wesley  Chapel  (John  Street)  by  the  Conference  of  the 
British  Wesleyan  Societies  in  Great  Britain,  also  appealed 
to  for  financial  assistance  to  relieve  the  debt  on  the  British 
Wesleyan  Chapel  in  John  Street. 

1769.  John  Wesley  sent  the  first  British  Wesleyan  mis¬ 
sionaries  to  America  —  Richard  Boardman  and  Joseph  Pil- 
more,  “to  act  under  his  authority.”  The  Conference  con¬ 
tributed  fifty  pounds  on  the  debt  of  the  John  Street  Chapel, 
also  twenty  pounds  for  the  two  missionaries,  and  America 
was  registered  as  a  regular  appointment  among  the  British 
Wesleyan  Societies. 

1770.  John  Wesley  appointed  Richard  Boardman  as  the 
first  British  Wesleyan  superintendent  in  America. 

1773.  Thomas  Rankin  was  sent,  and  called  the  first 
Conference  of  the  British  Wesleyan  missionaries  in  America 
to  meet  in  Philadelphia. 

1777.  The  British  Wesleyan  Conference  of  Great 
Britain  abandoned  the  supervision  of  Methodism  in  America. 

1791.  The  British  Wesleyan  Societies  of  Great  Britain 
organized  as  a  church,  providing  for  self  government  and 
the  administration  of  the  sacraments. 

AMERICAN  METHODISM 

1760.  The  first  itinerating  Methodist  preacher  in 
America  was  Robert  Strawbridge. 

The  first  preaching  of  Methodism  in  America  was  by 
Robert  Strawbridge  on  Sam’s  Creek,  Maryland,  in  his  home, 
as  soon  as  it  was  in  order. 

1761.  The  first  circuit  for  Methodist  preaching  in 
America  included  the  home  of  Robert  Strawbridge  and  John 
Maynard. 

1762  or  1763.  The  first  recorded  Methodist  baptism  in 
the  world  was  Henry  Maynard. 

1763.  The  first  recorded  Methodist  convert  in  America 
was  John  Evans.  He  “was  the  third  person  to  join  the 
strawbridge  Class.” 

Francis  Asbury  records  in  his  Journal:  “Mr.  Straw- 
bridge  founded  the  first  society  in  Maryland  —  and  in 
J  merica.” 

Note — Some  of  the  dates  given  are  in  dispute,  but  Dr.  Goucher 


1764.  The  mother  church  of  American  Methodism  was 
the  Strawbridge  log  meeting  house  on  Sam’s  Creek. 

From  this  center  American  Methodism  was  extended 
throughout  Maryland  into  Virginia,  Pennsylvania  and 
Delaware. 

The  seeds  of  American  Methodism  were  first  borne  across 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  by  the  preachers  and  laymen  of 
Maryland. 

The  first  native  American  to  become  a  Methodist 
preacher  was  Richard  Owings. 

1772.  The  first  native  American  to  become  a  traveling 
Methodist  preacher  was  William  Watters. 

1773.  Within  the  area  of  Strawbridge’s  itinerating  the 
first  circuits,  classes,  societies  and  quarterly  meeting  of  Amer¬ 
ican  Methodism  were  organized ; 

The  first  class  leaders,  exhorters  and  preachers  were  con¬ 
verted,  appointed  and  supervised ; 

The  ordinances  of  baptism  and  the  Lord’s  Supper  were 
first  administered  by  Methodist  preachers; 

All  churchly  functions  were  first  exercised  by  Methodist 
authority;  and 

Indigenous,  self-supporting,  and  self-propagating  Ameri¬ 
can  Methodism  was  inaugurated,  developed  and  maintained. 

1779.  The  first  organization  of  Methodists  into  an  in¬ 
dependent  church,  with  official  ordinations  and  provision 
for  administering  the  sacraments,  etc.,  was  at  the  Conference 
held  at  Fluvanna,  Va.  The  functioning  of  these  provisions 
was  held  in  temporary  abeyance  by  mutual  agreement  for  the 
sake  of  unity  among  the  Methodists  in  America. 

1783,  Dec.  24.  The  John  Street  Society  in  New  York, 
having  been  abandoned  by  the  British  Wesleyan  mission¬ 
aries,  John  Dickins  was  sent  to  reconstruct  the  John  Street 
Society.  He  was  the  only  Methodist  preacher  from  east 
of  the  Hudson  river  in  the  “Christmas  Conference.” 

1784.  The  first  General  Conference  of  American 
Methodism  convened  in  Baltimore  December  25th. 

Of  the  sixty  Methodist  preachers  present  not  one  had 
been  sent  to  America  by  John  Wesley  or  was  at  the  British 
Wesleyan  Conference  held  in  Philadelphia,  1773,  except 
Francis  Asbury,  and  he  had  become  thoroughly  Ameri¬ 
canized. 

This  General  Conference  organized  American  Method¬ 
ism  into  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ; 

Embodied  every  principle  of  doctrine  and  administration 
which  had  been  maintained  by  Robert  Strawbridge ; 

Unanimously  elected  and  consecrated  Francis  Asbury 
General  Superintendent  of  organized  American  Methodism ; 

Provided  for  the  establishment  of  “Cokesbury,”  the  first 
Methodist  college  in  the  world ; 

Sent  Freeborn  Garrettson  to  Nova  Scotia  —  the  first 
foreign  missionary  of  American  Methodist. 

1789.  The  Book  Concern  was  established  by  John 
Dickins. 

1792.  The  General  Conference  modified  the  “Form  of 
Discipline,”  struck  out  the  “Binding  Minute”  severing  all 
official  connection  of  American  Methodism  with  Mr.  Wes¬ 
ley  and  the  Methodists  of  Europe.  Substituted  the  term 
“Bishop”  for  the  term  “Superintendent.” 

1796.  The  General  Conference  divided  American 
Methodism  into  “six  Yearly  Conferences”  with  defined 
boundaries. 

1796.  Established  “The  Chartered  Fund.” 

1797.  The  office  and  term  “Presiding  Elder”  was  offi¬ 
cially  established. 

1817.  Organized  “The  Tract  Society.” 

1819.  Organized  “The  Missionary  Society.” 

has  chosen  those  which  he  believes  are  the  best  authenticated. 


i 


H  ow  the  Facts  for  the  Centenary  Program  Were 

Secured 


Foreign  Mission  Survey 

By  Ralph  A.  Ward 


j\/|  ETHODISM  has  a  world  program.  It  is  going 
somewhere  and  knows  where  it  is  going. 

The  Centenary  surveys  have 
shown  Methodists  the  path  they 
have  followed  during  the  past 
hundred  years.  They  have  shown 
them  where  they  may  go  at  the 
beginning  of  this  wonderful  cen¬ 
tury  of  new  world  relationships. 
The  surveys  were  a  statement  of 
program.  They  told  what  we 
have  —  the  problems  and  oppor¬ 
tunities  we  face  and  what  we  pur¬ 
pose  to  do. 

Because  of  the  definiteness  and 
clearness  of  the  world  program 
surveys  the  whole  Centenary  program  has  never  lost  its  sense 
of  direction.  America  entered  the  war  after  the  Centenary 
had  been  started.  In  the  uncertain  days  of  the  war  with 
its  conflicting  appeals,  the  clear-cut  world  program  of 
Methodism  held  a  steadying  hand  on  the  thinking  and 
planning  of  Americans  who  had  caught  the  new  spirit  of 
America’s  world  ambitions  in  commerce  and  industry  and 
statesmanship.  A  world  program  for  construction  stood  in 
bold  and  lifting  contrast  to  the  war  programs  of  destruc¬ 
tion  and  selfish  rivalries. 

A  common  program  has  bound  together  the  people  of 
Episcopal  Methodism.  Perplexities  of  organic  union  are 
lost  from  sight  in  the  presence  of  a  compelling  objective  for 
service.  People  who  make  up  Episcopal  Methodism  are  a 
unit  as  never  before.  As  world  service  in  the  war  has  made 
of  one  purpose  and  one  fellowship  all  citizens  of  America, 
so  the  call  to  world  service  in  Methodism’s  program  has 
brought  a  fellowship  with  new  spiritual  dynamic  into  the 
life  of  Methodist  Churches  the  world  around. 

The  surveys  were  no  mere  academic  studies.  They  were 
the  thinking  and  purposes  of  missionaries  on  two  score  of 
Christian  battle-fronts.  They  tell  the  struggle  of  a  century. 
They  show  foundations  so  deeply  and  broadly  laid  in  the 
life  of  many  peoples  that  the  structure  of  a  world  church 
can  now  more  quickly  go  forward  with  its  larger  con¬ 
tribution  to  the  church  universal. 

The  Centenary  survey  processes  provided  check  after  check 
on  the  estimates  of  the  individual  missionary  nearest  the  local 
tasks.  The  figures  were  carefully  reviewed  and  modified 
where  necessary  by  local  finance  committees.  They  were 
edited  by  bishops  and  other  administrators.  They  were 
not  a  bundle  of  guesses  nor  of  utopian  hopes,  but  a  state¬ 
ment  of  godly  judgment  by  trained  specialists. 

The  estimates  were  conservative.  They  were  made  in 
that  atmosphere  of  disappointment  in  which  missionaries  had 
lived  for  many  years  when  their  appeals  for  increased  funds 
were  seldom  answered  by  even  partial  response. 

The  survey  was  no  mere  call  for  money.  It  was  a  picture 
of  returns  on  life  investment.  The  most  significant  feature 
of  the  world  program  was  not  its  financial  totals  —  it  was 
its  picture  of  marvelous  progress  at  a  task  which  most  folks 
had  indifferently  regarded  as  all  but  impossible.  It  was  its 
picture  of  the  triumphant  worth-whileness  of  life  investment 
in  a  world  program  of  service  whose  dimensions  are  com¬ 
mensurate  with  the  new  world-thinking  of  our  day.  The 
survey  was  a  challenge  to  the  best  and  strongest  for  it  made 
a  little  more  clear  the  world  program  and  the  race  program 
of  salvation  in  Jesus  Christ. 


H  ome  Mission  Survey 

By  Ralph  E.  Diffendorfer 

HOW  may  the  church  projects  in  America,  that  is  the 
local  churches,  missions,  parish  houses,  settlements, 
homes,  and  training  schools  be 
classified  as  to  need  on  a  missionary 
basis  and  how  can  we  discover 
where  these  needy  projects  are  lo¬ 
cated  and  appraise  their  need  of 
missionary  help — this  was  the  prob¬ 
lem  before  those  making  the  Home 
Mission  Surveys  of  the  two  great 
Methodist  Churches. 

The  principles  agreed  upon  in¬ 
cluded  first  of  all,  the  purely  mis¬ 
sionary  responsibilities.  These 
were  church  projects  in  fields 
where  the  Methodist  Church  was 
wholly  or  chiefly  responsible  and  where  aid  must  be  given 
on  a  purely  missionary  basis  in  order  that  the  church  might 
meet  adequately  the  religious  needs  of  the  community.  Such 
projects  are  the  foreign  missions  under  our  flag  in  Porto 
Rico  and  Hawaii ;  the  established  types  of  home  mission  work 
as  Indian,  negro,  Alaskan,  the  Highlanders,  the  Mormons, 
isolated  rural  communities  and  newly  developed  frontier 
fields,  and  much  of  the  foreign-speaking  work ;  also  special¬ 
ized  forms  of  missionary  work  in  rural  and  city  fields  among 
recent  immigrant  peoples,  industrial  groups  and  the  down¬ 
town  transient  polyglot  masses. 

The  second  principle  and  classification  were  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  situations  where  aid  is  necessary  now  in  order  to  place 
the  church  within  a  five  year  period  on  a  basis  not  only  self- 
sustaining  but  able  to  give  support  to  missionary  causes. 
Such  projects  are  the  rapidly  growing  frontier  fields; 
adequate  equipment  and  trained  leadership  for  rural 
churches ;  strategic  suburban  and  city  fields ;  and  those 
churches  needing  a  subsidy  for  pastors  and  staff  workers 
where  the  strength  of  the  future  work  depends  on  an  ade¬ 
quately  trained  leadership. 

The  third  principle  included  those  peculiar  responsi¬ 
bilities  which  both  denominations  had  to  assume  to  discharge 
their  full  missionary  obligations.  Here  were  included  the 
care  of  the  religious  life  of  students  at  non-denominational 
schools ;  the  presentation  of  Christian  life-work  to  young 
people  and  students;  special  training  schools  for  Christian 
service ;  and  the  training  of  ministers  to  be  pastor-evange¬ 
lists  and  the  lay  members  in  personal  evangelism. 

With  these  principles  and  this  classification  clearly  in 
mind,  groups  of  trained  men  and  women  went  throughout 
the  country  and  assembled  the  leaders  of  the  churches  both 
lay  and  ministerial  and  endeavored  to  locate  and  set  down 
in  writing  all  the  situations  which  might  properly  be  in¬ 
cluded.  The  workers  needed  and  the  aid  in  money  for  new 
buildings,  equipment  and  staff  over  a  five  year  period  were 
carefully  considered  and  recorded  district  by  district. 

When  the  great  war  came  on  both  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  were  the 
first  to  increase  their  askings  in  order  to  provide  their  share 
of  obligation  in  the  tremendous  and  unprecedented  tasks  of 
reconstruction.  These  askings  were  based  on  careful  sur¬ 
veys  and  are  amounts  needed  over  and  above  the  regular 
Home  Mission  funds. 

The  churches  have  already  begun  to  feel  the  spiritual 
significance  of  the  self-examination  involved  in  making  these 
surveys  and  have  responded  in  faith,  courage  and  renewed 
confidence  to  the  mighty  program  resulting  from  these 
studies. 


23 


Lights  and  Shadows  in  Our  Cities 


24 


Social  Service  and  the  Church 

By  Harry  F.  Ward, 


THE  spirit  which  gave  Methodism  birth  was  a  spirit  of 
service.  Wesley’s  philanthropy  at  Oxford  began  with 

his  sympathy  for  prisoners.  Under 
his  leadership  a  reading  club  be¬ 
came  a  center  of  brotherly  services 
to  the  unfortunate ;  releasing  pris¬ 
oners  held  for  debt,  helping  the 
poor  with  money  and  medicine, 
maintaining  children  at  school  and 
providing  winter  clothing  for 
them.  These  and  other  demands 
came  with  such  power  and  convic¬ 
tion  to  the  little  group  that  the 
very  walls  of  their  club  were 
stripped  of  its  pictures  to  meet  the 
needs  revealed. 

From  the  day  of  the  famous  club  to  the  end  of  his  life 
Wesley’s  days  were  filled  with  practical  service  to  the  needy 
of  every  description.  Furnishing  employment,  mapping  out 
the  city  of  London  into  districts  with  volunteer  visitors  ap¬ 
pointed  for  each  to  look  after  the  poor  and  sick,  establishing 
a  leading  society,  creating  dispensaries,  founding  schools  and 
orphanages,  even  publishing  the  classics  in  cheap  editions, 
these  were  some  of  the  activities  in  which  that  restless  doer 
of  good  works  engaged. 

The  followers  of  Wesley  never  lost  altogether  the  initial 
impulse  toward  practical  service  given  by  their  leader.  In 
these  later  days  the  spirit  of  service  to  every  individual  need 
is  once  again  stirring  the  church  with  new  life;  and  from  that 
ideal  of  service  to  the  individual,  the  local  churches  are 
beginning  to  reach  out  into  the  field  of  community  service, 
until  now  the  ideal  of  service  to  the  whole  community  is 
fairly  well  established  as  the  direction  in  which  the  church 
is  moving. 

But  the  past  few  years  have  revealed  a  far  larger  task 


than  had  appeared  on  the  horizon  of  Wesley’s  day,  or  upon 
the  day  of  any  generation  until  the  present  one.  That  task 
is  the  regeneration  of  the  social  order  itself.  For  its  ac¬ 
complishment,  there  is  no  lack  of  guiding  principles,  either 
in  the  early  tradition  of  the  church,  or  in  its  later  ideals. 
What  remains  now  to  be  done,  is  to  make  full  and  complete 
use  of  those  principles  in  the  construction  of  a  Christian 
order  of  society. 

A  three-fold  challenge  comes  to  the  church  today  as  it 
stands,  with  immense  resources,  power  and  influence,  before 
this  call  to  a  new  application  of  its  ideals. 

First,  is  the  church  to  be  content  merely  to  carry  forward 
on  a  larger  scale  than  ever  before  the  services  which  it  has 
already  established  ?  Or  will  it  seek  also  the  creation  of  a 
society  in  which  many  of  those  services  will  be  forever 
unnecessary. 

Again,  will  it  use  its  power  and  influence  merely  in  an 
attempt  to  coerce  the  opposing  forces  on  the  industrial  field 
into  “right  relations”  with  one  another,  or  will  it  give  itself 
also  to  the  utmost  to  build  that  kind  of  a  social  order  in 
which  there  shall  be  no  opposing  camps,  but  only  coopera¬ 
tion  in  a  common  task? 

Finally,  will  it  be  content  to  teach  the  necessity  of  good 
material  conditions  for  all?  Or  will  it  challenge  as  well 
the  righteousness  of  a  system  of  society  which  perpetuates 
power  and  profits  for  one  group  and  wages  and  work  for 
the  other,  to  the  spiritual  destruction  of  the  wielders  of 
power  and  the  physical  and  moral  degradation  of  those  over 
whom  the  power  is  held  ? 

If  the  church  would  today  meet  the  challenge  of  the 
times,  it  must  bear  its  full  share  of  the  task  of  breaking  new 
paths  to  the  goal  of  economic  brotherhood.  Only  so  can  it 
fulfill  its  ministry  to  a  world  weary  of  strife  over  material 
possessions,  and  hungering  for  the  spiritual  joy  which  comes 
only  with  the  opportunity  of  working  together  in  fellow¬ 
ship  at  a  common  task  for  the  good  of  all  men. 


Pastoral  Letter  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 

Bishops  on  Social  Service 

HE  Bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
A  Church,  assembled  in  regular  session,  call 
upon  the  ministers  and  laymen  of  the  Church  to 
give  most  earnest  heed  to  the  application  of 
Christian  principles  to  social  reconstruction.  It 
is  increasingly  manifest  that  there  must  be  pro¬ 
gress  away  from  selfish  competition  to  unselfish 
co-operation  in  that  struggle  for  daily  bread 
which  is  the  largest  single  fact  in  the  life  of  the 
majority  of  men  in  any  community.  If  this  pro¬ 
gress  is  to  be  orderly  and  not  violent  we  must 
leave  behind  us  the  evils  which  lead  to  deplor¬ 
able  violence  or  counter  violence  by  either  party. 

If  Christianity  is  a  driving  force,  making  for 
democracy,  we  cannot  put  a  limit  upon  the  ex¬ 
tension  of  democracy;  we  must  recognize  the 
inevitability  of  the  application  of  democracy  to 
industry.  While  we  rejoice  in  the  adoption  of 
all  such  ameliorative  measures  as  better  hous¬ 
ing  and  various  forms  of  social  insurance,  we 
call  for  the  more  thorough-going  emphasis  on 
human  freedom,  which  will  make  democratic 


progress  mean  the  enlargement  and  enrichment 
of  the  life  of  the  masses  of  mankind  through  the 
self-directive  activity  of  men  themselves. 

We  favor  an  equitable  wage  for  laborers, 
which  shall  have  the  right  of  way  over  rent,  in¬ 
terest  and  profits. 

We  favor  collective  bargaining,  as  an  instru¬ 
ment  for  the  attainment  of  industrial  justice  and 
for  training  in  democratic  procedure. 

And  we  also  favor  advance  of  the  workers 
themselves  through  profit  sharing  and  through 
positions  on  boards  of  directorship. 

In  the  discussion  of  all  such  matters  we  urge 
all  individuals  and  groups  to  hold  fast  the  tol¬ 
erance  which  comes  out  of  mutual  respect  and 
to  keep  always  in  mind  that  the  richest 
sound  social  idealism  is  the 
Christ. 


Adopted  by  the 
odist  Episco 

I9I9- 


Hot  Weather  Scenes  in  the  City 


28 


There’s  Need  for  Sunshine  Here 


t 


29 


The  Benevolent  Organizations  of  Methodism 

By  Thomas  Nicholson 


THE  first  Methodist  impulse  was  philanthropic.  John 
Wesley  was  a  prison  visitor  and  a  prison  reformer  long 

before  he  experienced  the  “strange 
warming  of  the  heart.”  Early 
Methodism  was  distinctly  a  social 
as  well  as  an  evangelistic  program. 
And  one  of  the  great  historians  is 
on  record  as  saying,  in  substance, 
that  “the  work  of  John  Wesley 
for  England  was  greater  in  its  so¬ 
cial  influence  than  that  of  Pitt,  the 
Great  Commoner  himself.” 

One  of  the  first  instincts  of 
American  Methodism  was  for 
education.  The  story  of  the 
founding  of  Cokesbury  college  is 
The  records  show  that  after  the 
first  college  burned  the  contributions  of  the  Methodists  in 
that  early  day  for  this  single  benevolence  amounted  to  $2.50 
for  every  man,  woman  and  child  of  their  membership  —  and 
that  in  a  day  when  dollars  were  relatively  worth  hundreds. 

The  organized  benevolences  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  have  been  growing  apace  for  a  hundred  years.  Take 
for  an  example  the  receipts  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  that  branch  of  Methodism.  In  1907  the  regular  receipts 
of  that  board  were  $1,070,900;  in  1909  they  were  $1,036,- 
288;  then  a  gradual  increase  until  1916  when  the  receipts 
showed  $1,255,809.  Two  years  later  the  total  was  $2,- 
380,346,  or  more  than  double  the  receipts  of  1907.  Simi¬ 
larly  in  1911,  the  debt  amounted  to  $171,976.  This  amount 
has  been  reduced  gradually  until  in  1918  it  was  wiped  out. 
Now  comes  the  great  Centenary  movement,  with  its  more 
than  $8,000,000  a  year  for  foreign  missions.  A  similar 
record  has  characterized  the  other  boards.  The  Board  of 
Sunday  Schools,  organized  in  1908  on  its  present  modern 
basis,  has  grown  until  it  is  one  of  the  best  organized,  best 
supported  and  most  influential  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 
And  the  Board  of  Education  has  recently  completed  its 
Jubilee  Campaign  by  which  it  has  increased  the  endowment 
and  funds  for  equipment  of  the  colleges  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  by  more  than  thirty  million  dollars. 

The  record  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  is 
equally  gratifying.  In  1850  their  offerings  for  foreign  and 
domestic  missions  totaled  $85,973,  and  in  1854  the  amount 
rose  to  $168,031.  By  the  time  of  the  General  Conference 
of  1898  they  reported  for  foreign  missions  $1,077,388;  for 
their  domestic  boards  $531,255;  for  Woman’s  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  $307,800,  and  for  Woman’s  Home  Missions  $151,512 
—  a  total  for  that  quadrennium  of  $2,067,955.  Their  last 
report,  for  1916-17,  shows  a  total  from  all  sources  for  Home 
and  Foreign  Missions,  including  their  woman’s  work,  of 
$1,408,638. 

The  women  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  too,  have 
done  a  great  work.  The  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  has  a  work  of  world-wide  scope  and  is  now  regularly 
expending  quite  beyond  a  million  dollars  a  year.  The 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  has  a  perfect  net-work 
of  hospitals,  deaconess  homes,  and  other  work  of  the  nature 
of  settlement  houses.  The  property  valuation  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  alone  is  more  than  one 


million  dollars.  The  number  of  its  deaconesses,  nurses  and 
similar  helpers  is  considerably  beyond  five  hundred.  The 
number  of  visits  in  district  nursing  alone  reported  last  year 
was  about  sixty  thousand.  They  have  more  than  two  thousand 
beds  in  their  hospitals,  and  last  year  they  treated  about 
32,000  patients. 

In  addition  to  these  activities  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  there  is  a  very  rapidly  increasing  list  of  hospitals, 
such  as  Wesley  Memorial  Hospital  in  Chicago,  which  has 
property  and  endowment  valued  at  roundly  two  million  dol¬ 
lars  and  which  treats  more  than  seven  thousand  patients 
annually;  the  Brooklyn  Methodist  Episcopal  Hospital  with 
property  worth  two  and  a  half  million  dollars,  and  which 
last  year  treated  about  six  thousand  patients;  and  others  of 
scarcely  less  importance.  The  number  is  increasing  every 
year.  Old  People’s  Homes,  Children’s  institutions,  and 
Child  Welfare  Societies  are  multiplying  with  each  year  and 
form  a  series  of  philanthropic  endeavors  of  the  first  im¬ 
portance. 

Equally  praiseworthy  is  the  philanthropic  work  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Barnes  Hospital,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  began  with  a  single  gift  of  almost  one  million 
dollars,  from  Mr.  Robert  A.  Barnes.  Its  income  from  en¬ 
dowment  is  now  about  $45,000  a  year.  Voluntary  con¬ 
tributions  amounting  to  about  $155,000  a  year  bring  the 
expenditures  up  to  $200,000  annually.  It  is  said  that  five 
hundred  persons,  on  an  average,  come  to  the  clinic  every  day. 
Wesley  Memorial  Hospital,  Atlanta,  Georgia,  reported  last 
year  1,505  patients  treated;  and  in  the  list  of  nationalities 
are  found  Russians,  Hungarians,  Germans,  Italians  and 
Turks,  in  addition  to  Americans,  English  and  Canadians. 
This  church  has  other  noted  hospitals,  such  as  the  Galloway 
at  Nashville  and  the  Methodist  Hospital  at  Memphis. 

Its  orphanages  are  equally  noteworthy.  Thirteen  con¬ 
ferences  report  such  institutions.  One  of  these  has  a  capacity 
for  240  children;  others  nearly  as  many;  and  some  of  them 
have  already  cared  for  fully  one  thousand  orphans. 

The  educational  work  of  the  Church,  South,  includes  two 
universities,  sixteen  colleges  in  Class  A,  eleven  in  Class  B, 
two  in  Class  C,  twenty-four  Junior  Colleges,  twenty-nine 
academies,  and  four  missionary  training  schools  exclusive  of 
the  schools  in  foreign  mission  territory.  The  total  value 
of  grounds  and  buildings  is  approximately  fifteen  million 
dollars,  and  the  total  endowment  approaches  ten  million 
dollars. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  twenty-two  schools  and 
colleges  for  colored  people,  under  the  Freedmen’s  Aid  So¬ 
ciety  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  including  what 
is  recognized  as  the  greatest  medical  school  for  negroes  in 
the  United  States;  namely,  Meharry  Medical  College  at 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  which  has  just  now  received  a  conditional 
offer  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  from  two  of  the 
great  educational  boards,  toward  a  half  million,  the  balance 
of  which  is  to  be  raised  in  the  Centenary  movement.  This 
will  put  it  at  the  head  of  all  medical  institutions  for  colored 
people. 

The  immigrant  work,  the  rescue  missions,  the  settlement 
work  and  similar  efforts  of  these  two  branches  of  Methodism 
vastly  exceed  the  much  advertised  and  highly  appreciated 
work  of  the  Salvation  Army.  The  other  branches  of 
Methodism  each  has  its  catalogue  of  such  institutions. 

The  Methodist  Year  Books  are  a  compendium  of  infor¬ 
mation  on  these  great  things  and  are  worthy  of  most  careful 
study.  “There  remaineth  yet  very  much  land  to  be  pos¬ 
sessed”;  but,  at  home  and  abroad  Methodism  has  reason  to 
be  proud  of  its  chain  of  benevolent  organizations,  ably  ad¬ 
ministered  by  great  benevolent  boards.  The  material  assist¬ 
ance  and  the  new  impetus  of  the  Centenary  will  probably 
double  this  noble  work  in  the  next  five  years. 


of  fascinating  interest. 


30 


The  Deaconess  Movement 

By  Daniel  W.  Howell 

THE  Deaconess  Work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  had  its  birth  in  the  heart  of  women  to  glorify 

Christ.  The  suggestion  of  a  move¬ 
ment  came  from  Bishop  James  M. 
Thoburn  and  his  sister,  Isabelle. 
They  had  seen  and  were  impressed 
with  the  work  of  women  in  Europe 
and  felt  that  the  women  of  this 
country  could  be  persuaded  to  give 
just  as  valuable  service. 

Form  and  shape  was  given  to  an 
organization  by  the  General  Con¬ 
ference  of  1888.  At  that  time  the 
movement  was  fully  launched  as  a 
work  of  the  denomination. 

The  first  few  years  were  marked 
Women  flocked  to  its  ranks  and 
freely  offered  their  services.  Strong,  able  and  consecrated 
women  gave  inspiring  leadership.  In  1889  the  first  women 
were  consecrated  as  Deaconesses  of  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church.  Homes  seemed  to  spring  up  in  almost  a  night, 
and  in  a  brief  space  of  ten  years  there  were  few  parts  of  the 
country  that  had  not  felt  the  helpful  influence  of  these  “kind 
friends  of  many.” 

The  strength  of  the  Women’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
was  given  to  extending  this  work.  The  Methodist  Dea¬ 
coness  Association  came  into  existence.  The  German 
Central  Deaconess  Board  cared  for  the  work  among  those 
of  that  tongue  and  nation. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1900  the  General  Dea¬ 
coness  Board  was  made  a  part  of  the  movement,  in  1912 
it  was  given  general  oversight  of  the  entire  work  and  in 
1916  it  was  made  a  regular  Disciplinary  Benevolent  Board. 

Very  early  in  the  life  of  this  work  property  came  under 
its  care  and  now  it  reports  over  eight  millions  of  assets  in 
this  country.  Beyond  the  reported  records  there  is  much 
property  in  the  denomination  that  must  be  placed  to  the 
influence  of  this  work. 

Over  one  thousand  of  these  women  are  serving  in  this 
country.  The  name  is  known  in  every  village  and  the  dress 
is  recognized  in  city  and  town. 

The  Deaconess  movement  of  the  Methodi  t  Epi  copal 
Church,  South,  was  inaugurated  by  the  General  Conference 
of  1902  because  of  the  demand  for  the  service  of  trained, 
uniformed  women  in  home  mission  work.  The  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  movement  was  committed  to  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society.  The  disciplinary  requirements 
were  incorporated  by  the  General  Conference  in  the  con¬ 
stitution  of  the  society.  The  immediate  supervision  of  the 
work  was  vested  in  a  committee  of  fourteen  chosen  from  the 
membership  of  the  society  with  the  Executive  Secretary  in 
charge. 

The  first  deaconesses  were  consecrated  in  1903  at  Trinity 
Church,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  by  Bishop  E.  R.  Hendrix.  The 
number  of  deaconesses  has  not  been  great,  the  average  being 
ten  annually,  but  the  standard  is  high  and  the  service  pro¬ 
portionally  efficient.  The  demand  for  the  service  of  the 
deaconess  arrested  the  attention  of  many  noble,  devout 
women  who  have  given  themselves  to  the  work  with  a  holy 
enthusiasm  and  unflagging  zeal.  It  was  the  deaconess  who 
made  possible  the  Wesley  Houses,  the  fore-runner  of  other 
larger  centers  of  social  evangelism.  Out  of  their  social  and 
evangelistic  effort  churches  in  foreign  communities  have  had 
birth  and  the  church  has  been  socialized. 

In  1910  the  three  missionary  organizations  of  the  Method¬ 
ist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  were  merged  into  the  Board  of 
Missions  and  the  Deaconess  movement  was  committed  to 
the  Home  Department. 


Care  of  the  Retired  Ministers 

By  J.  B.  Hinge  ley 

THE  gracious  task  of  providing  for  the  retired  minister, 
widow  and  orphan  is  now  common  to  the  Protestant 

Church  though  the  details  are  mod¬ 
ified  according  to  the  peculiar 
genius  of  the  various  denomina¬ 
tions.  Generally,  as  in  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  a  two-fold 
obligation  is  recognized. 

1.  To  provide  an  annuity  or 
pension  based  on  years  of  service, 
not  as  a  gratuity,  but  as  the  recog¬ 
nition  of  “an  inherent  claim  to  a 
comfortable  support.” 

2.  To  provide  for  the  needs 
of  those  ministers  and  widows  for 
whom  the  pension  provisions  are 
inadequate ;  such  as  the  very  aged  and  feeble,  or  those  whose 
ministry  was  cut  short  by  ill  health  or  other  disability. 

The  principal  differences  in  the  plans  for  pensions  relate 
to  the  determination  of  the  amount  of  the  annuity  or  pension. 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  starts  out  with  the  propo¬ 
sition  that  thirty-five  years  represents  a  completed  ministry, 
which  entitles  the  retired  minister  to  “half  pay,”  reckoned 
as  one-half  the  average  salaries  paid  to  the  pastors  within 
an  annual  conference.  Having  thus  established  the  “half 
pay,”  the  amount  is  divided  by  thirty-five  to  give  the  annuitv 
for  one  year’s  service.  By  multiplying  this  annuity  rate  by 
the  number  of  years  of  service  the  ennuity  or  pension  of 
each  claimant  is  indicated.  Some  denominations  base  the 
annuity  rate  on  what  the  individual  clergyman  has  received 
instead  of  on  the  average  of  the  conference  or  diocese. 

The  amount  allowed  to  a  necessitous  case  is  determined 
by  a  thorough  consideration  of  his  needs  and  also  the  needs 
of  all  other  beneficiaries  of  the  group,  and  the  amount  avail¬ 
able  for  such  distribution.  In  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  the  Board  of  Conference  Claimants  is  the  represen¬ 
tative  and  agent  of  the  church  in  providing  for  the  weaker 
and  more  needy  conferences  and  for  the  necessitous  cases ; 
and  its  appropriations  must  go  to  them.  To  these  funds  all 
members,  churches  and  conferences  are  contributors;  but 
the  distribution  is  made  according  to  need.  The  Board  is 
therefore  connectional  or  general  benevolence ;  with  the 
added  responsibility  of  increasing  funds  throughout  the 
church.  Since  its  organization  in  1908  the  total  annual  dis¬ 
tribution  to  Conference  claimants  has  increased  from 
$606,000  to  $1,385,663;  and  investments  have  increased 
from  less  than  two  million  dollars  to  more  than  fourteen 
million  dollars. 

There  are  7318  claimants;  viz.,  3154  retired  ministers, 
3601  widows  of  preachers  and  563  dependent  orphans  of 
preachers.  Their  legal  claims  fixed  by  the  law  of  the  church 
are  $2,353,482  annually;  on  which  there  was  paid  $1,140,- 
063  in  1918;  leaving  a  deficient  of  $1,213,419.  Hence 
while  much  has  been  done,  the  task  is  not  yet  half  completed. 

A  few  months  ago  two  million  dollars  for  the  Permanent 
Fund  of  the  Board  of  Conference  Claimants  was  placed  a 
part  of  the  “super-subscription”  of  the  Centenary  movement, 
and  amounts  contributed  to  the  Board  of  Conference  Claim¬ 
ants  are  thus  included  in  the  Centenary  offerings.  A  great 
layman  calls  the  minister  “the  one  and  only  indispensable 
man”  in  the  Christian  church,  and  surely  all  the  great  enter¬ 
prises  of  the  kingdom  were  established  by  him.  But  for 
him  there  would  be  no  Centenary  and  the  church  cannot 
forget  him  in  old  age. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  has  put  a 
secretary  in  the  field  and  begun  the  raising  of  ten  million 
dollars  for  this  purpose,  and  while  they  have  not  included 
this  object  in  their  Centenary  askings,  they  are  planning  to 
have  an  intensive  compaign  for  this  purpose  to  follow  the 
Centenary  drive. 


by  intense  enthusiasm. 


3i 


Methodism  Among  Negroes 
Prior  to  Civil  War 

By  Frank  M.  Thomas 


Work  of  Methodism  Among 
Negroes  of  Today 

By  Robert  E.  Jones 


IN  1800  the  total  negro  population  was  over  one  million. 
Over  thirteen  thousand  of  them  were  members  of  the 

Methodist  Church.  This  was 
about  one-fourth  of  the  total 
membership.  A  n  unparalleled 
record,  when  we  recall  that 
Methodism  had  been  laboring  on 
this  continent  for  only  25  years. 

One  of  the  most  potential  fac¬ 
tors  in  evangelizing  the  negroes 
was  the  preaching  of  negroes  who 
had  been  converted  and  called  of 
the  Spirit.  Among  those  was 
“Black  Harry,”  who  traveled  in 
turn  with  Asbury,  Coke,  What- 
coat,  Garrettsen,  and  Jesse  Lee, 
“excelling  them  all  in  popularity  as  a  preacher” ;  Henry 
Evans,  whom  Bishop  Capers  declared  “was  confessedly  the 
father  of  the  Methodist  church,”  white  and  black  in  Fay¬ 
etteville,  N.  C.,  and  the  best  preacher  of  his  time  in  that 
quarter;  and  “Black  Punch,”  who  was  led  to  Christ  by 
Asbury  in  1788  as  he  found  him  fishing  on  the  wayside  and 
made  him  ‘a  fisher  of  men.’  The  greatest  of  these  was  John 
Stewart,  whose  work  among  the  Wyandottes  led  to  the  or¬ 
ganization  in  1819  of  the  Methodist  Missionary  Society. 

In  1829  the  South  Carolina  Conference  of  the  then  un¬ 
divided  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  determined  to  reach  the 
many  negroes  who  were  living  on  outlying  plantations,  where 
white  families  were  few.  The  work  thus  organized  became  so 
successful  that  it  was  undertaken  in  other  Southern  Confer¬ 
ences.  By  the  year  1 832  there  were  eight  slave  missions  in 
operation  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Tennessee.  These 
three  Conferences  had  a  colored  membership  of  nearly 
26,000,  one-tenth  being  in  the  special  missions  to  the  slaves. 
When  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  divided  in  1844 
the  Southern  Conferences  had  organized  missions  among  the 
slaves  in  ten  states  with  68  missions,  71  missionaries  and 
21,063  members.  For  these  they  had  expended  in  1843, 
522,379.25. 

After  the  division  of  the  church  these  Conferences  carried 
on  this  work  with  increasing  zeal  until  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War  the  number  of  slave  missions  had  increased 
to  290,  served  by  292  missionaries  and  covering  a  field  from 
the  Potomac  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  from  the  Atlantic 
seaboard  to  the  Mississippi  and  beyond.  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  church  having  been  estopped  by  its  attitude  toward 
slavery  from  undertaking  work  except  in  a  few  places  along 
the  border,  the  whole  burden  of  this  work  among  the  negroes 
fell  upon  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  When 
the  Civil  War  broke  out  this  branch  of  American  Method¬ 
ism  had  a  total  colored  membership  of  163,296.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  members  exclusively  in  the  organized  slave  missions 
was  77,802,  an  increase  of  almost  400%  since  1844.  For 
these  the  Southern  Church  expended  more  than  $100,000 
annually.  But  these  cold  figures  in  no  sense  represent  the 
heroic  labors  of  the  self-sacrificing  missionaries,  some  of 
whom,  like  Bishop  Capers,  the  founder  of  the  missions,  were 
men  of  noble  birth  and  high  culture.  Some  of  them  like 
John  Honour,  the  first  missionary  appointed,  died  at  their 
posts.  When  it  is  recalled  that  all  of  the  negro  Methodist 
denominations  were  largely  organized  by  men  who  had  been 
brought  to  Christ  by  the  preaching  of  white  Methodist 
preachers,  that  several  of  their  notable  leaders  —  Bishops 
like  Turner,  Beebe,  Lane,  and  Holsey  —  were  converted 
under  such  preaching,  the  whole  record  is  one  of  sublime 
fidelity  to  the  missionary  command  of  the  risen  Lord. 


THE  negro  is  inseparably  linked  with  the  history  ot 
American  Methodism.  Not  only  was  the  “brother  in 

black”  found  among  the  early 
American  audiences  of  John  Wes¬ 
ley,  in  the  first  Sunday  School 
organized  in  New  York,  sharing 
the  hardships  of  Asbury,  for 
“Black  Harry”  actually  rivaled 
the  “prophet  of  the  long  road”  in 
effective  pioneer  preaching. 

The  earliest  foreign  mission 
enterprise  of  Methodism  was  in 
Antigua  in  the  West  Indies.  A 
negro  slave  started  work  there, 
and  Bishop  Coke,  in  several  of  his 
first  visits  to  America,  came  by 
Antigua  to  visit  and  nourish  this  small  beginning  of  foreign 
missions. 

Just  as  if  it  were  an  act  of  gratitude  to  John  Stewart  and 
his  racial  kin  Methodism’s  first  foreign  missionary  enterprise 
was  established  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa. 

As  Livingstone’s  heart  buried  on  the  banks  of  the  Lake 
Bangueola  turned  the  Christian  world  to  the  redemption  of 
Africa,  no  less  also  did  Melville  B.  Cox,  who,  after  a  few 
months,  gave  up  his  life  on  the  hot  sands  of  West  Africa, 
but  not  until  he  had  sent  forth  the  message  that  rings 
throughout  the  church  today  “Let  a  thousand  fall,  but  let 
not  Africa  be  given  up.”  And  Methodism  will  not  give  up 
its  work  in  Africa  until  the  prayers  of  Livingstone  and  Cox 
are  answered  and  Ethiopia  stretches  forth  her  hand  unto 
God. 


The  colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  which  up  to 
1874  was  included  in  membership  of  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church,  South,  and  still  bears  a  close  relation  to  that 
church,  has  a  membership  of  250,000  and  has  its  own  Bishops 
and  connectional  organizations.  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  makes  an  annual  assessment  upon  its  mem¬ 
bers  to  aid  in  the  work  of  the  colored  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  and  has  put  in  its  Centenary  askings  one  million 
dollars  for  the  aid  of  that  church. 


The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  alone  has  spent  ten 
million  dollars  in  its  educational  program  among  negroes, 
and  almost  a  like  sum  in  building  churches  and  parsonages 
and  in  caring  for  men  on  the  field.  There  has  been  developed 
a  Methodist  constituency  whom  the  lamented  Bishop  Hoss 
said  constituted  in  character,  intelligence  and  force  of  lead¬ 
ership,  the  best  element  in  Protestant  Christianity  in  America 
among  negroes. 


The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  among  the  colored 
people  2172  ministers,  3538  local  preachers,  with  a  member¬ 
ship  of  348,477,  and  a  property  valuation  of  over  $10,000,- 
000.  This  membership  raised  in  1918  for  the  general  boards 
of  the  church  $141,740.  There  is  a  steady  growth  towards 
self  support.  In  the  recent  Centenary  drive  the  largest  cash 
offering  up  to  that  time  came  from  the  New  Orleans  area 
composed  entirely  of  colored  conferences  which  reported 
$91,000  in  actual  cash,  and  over  $400,000  in  signed  sub¬ 
scriptions. 

Very  properly  the  program  of  Methodism  for  the  future 
will  provide  larger  educational,  evangelistic  and  social 
facilities  for  the  negro.  Methodism,  North  and  South, 
must  unite  in  an  approach  to  this  problem,  which  is  of  vital 
concern  to  all  sections  of  the  nation.  The  negro,  by  his 
unmixed  loyalty  to  the  flag  in  every  crisis  which  the  nation 
has  faced,  has  earned  the  good  will  and  the  strong  hand  of 
help  of  all  patriotic  citizens,  especially  those  who  are  fol¬ 
lowers  of  our  common  Lord. 


32 


The  Negro— He  Plays,  and  Works,  and  Fights 


33 


John  Stewart  --  Apostle  to  the  Wyandot  Indians 

By  Jonas  J.  Hulse 


The  Wyandot  Indian  Mission 


u 


NDER  a  stately  tree  near  the  Wyandot  Mission 
Church  in  Upper  Sandusky,  Ohio,  stands  a  large 

boulder,  bearing  on  its  face  this  in¬ 
scription  : 

JOHN  STEWART 
Apostle  to  the  Wyandot  Indians 
Father  of  Missions  of 
Idle  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

Here  we  have  in  epitaph  the 
life  of  that  lonely  negro  who,  bur¬ 
dened  by  sin,  found  his  way  to 
God,  was  converted  and  later 
obediently  followed  the  voice 
which  called  him  to  preach  the 
gospel  in  the  wilderness. 

In  1816  John  Stewart  found 
his  way  from  Marietta,  Ohio,  to  the  Wyandot  Indians  at 
Upper  Sandusky.  There  by  the  melody  of  his  musical  voice 
in  Christian  song,  as  well  as  by  the  fire  of  his  gospel  message 
through  the  lips  of  Pointer,  the  interpreter,  he  reached  the 
hearts  of  the  children  of  the  forest.  The  spirit  of  God  was 
wonderfully  present  with  him,  and  in  the  daily  meetings 
held  with  the  Indians  in  their  cabins  and  about  their  camp 
fires,  many  times  were  heard  in  prayer,  in  testimony  and  in 
exhortation,  the  earnest  and  eloquent  words  of  Mononcue, 
Between-the-Logs,  Summundewat,  Gray-Eyes,  and  all  the 
■convert  band. 

To  such  an  extent  was  the  work  of  Stewart  established 
ithat  when  in  1821  he  gladly  relinquished  his  responsibility  to 


Rev.  J.  B.  Finley,  sent  out  by  the  church  to  take  charge 
of  the  mission  to  the  Wyandots,  it  was  soon  perceived  that 
this  group  of  Christian  Indians  was  worthy  of  constant  care 
and  continued  instruction. 

By  request  of  the  brethren  of  the  churches  of  eastern 
cities,  and  in  order  to  convince  them  of  the  genuineness  and 
value  of  this  Christian  enterprise,  Finley  planned  a  visit  to 
several  of  these  centers  of  population.  After  a  farewell  visit 
to  the  bedside  of  the  now  stricken  Stewart,  this  courageous 
leader  set  out  bravely  on  his  tedious  and  tortuous  pilgrim¬ 
age,  accompanied  by  Mononcue  and  Between-the-Logs 
Christian  Indian  Chieftains.  Even  in  the  midst  of  the 
strange  and  bewildering  scenes  of  city  life,  these  simple 
children  of  God  lost  none  of  the  spontaneity  of  their  forest 
religion.  Just  as  when  they  were  about  their  own  camp¬ 
fires,  the  spirit  of  God  came  might¬ 
ily  upon  them  as  they  preached  to 
great  congregations  in  Boston, 

New  York  City  and  Baltimore. 

Many  said,  “Of  a  truth  this  work 
is  of  God.” 

At  the  end  of  a  hundred  years 
of  missionary  service,  the  hosts  of 
Methodism  have  gathered  from  all 
quarters  of  the  globe  in  order  that 
before  them  may  be  brought  in  re¬ 
view  a  century’s  growth  of  the 
work  founded  by  this  humble 
preacher  of  the  Word. 


34 


Methodism  and  the  Other 
Churches 

By  JV.  F.  Oldham 

THE  temper  of  Methodism  is  remarkedly  irenic.  “If  thy 
heart  be  as  my  heart,  give  me  thine  hand,”  a  favorite 

saying  of  John  Wesley’s,  is  the 
working  formula  of  his  spiritual 
descendants.  Our  doctrinal  stand¬ 
ards  are  so  simple  and  luminous, 
our  policy  so  practical  and  satisfac¬ 
tory.  Methodism  is  never  nervous 
about  the  closest  affiliation  with 
other  church  bodies  seeking  the 
same  ends.  Sure  of  God  and  deep¬ 
ly  set  on  serving  men,  Methodism 
hails  with  heartiest  welcome  who¬ 
soever  will  join  her  in  bringing 
needy  men  to  a  pardoning  and 
purifying  God.  In  these  later  days, 
when  the  folly  of  divided  ranks  and  divisive  effort  is  registered 
in  the  comparative  futility  of  all  the  churches  in  meeting  the 
intrenched  evils  of  the  city  and  the  scattered  needs  of  the 
country,  the  Methodist  Church  is  more  eager  than  ever  to 
join  forces  with  all  like-minded  Christians  to  meet  the  total 
task  —  needing,  as  it  does,  the  resources  of  all  Christly  men. 
The  sad  experiences  of  the  allies  under  different  com¬ 
manders  with  no  unifying  center  in  the  earlier  years  of  the 
war,  has  not  been  without  its  effect  on  the  church’s  thinking. 

Methodism’s  native  hospitality  of  spirit  has  been  quickened. 
Eagerly  she  welcomes  the  federation  of  the  churches  in 
America;  gladly  she  gives  herself  to  joint  programs  of  local 
service.  With  wistful  anxiety  she  looks  for  the  opportunity 
to  commingle  her  activities  with  those  of  all  her  sister  com¬ 
munions  in  an  “intei  church  movement”  that  thus  the  re¬ 
ligious  mind  of  the  community  may  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  deep  needs  and  distresses,  the  want  and  woe  and  sin  of 
the  community. 

For  Methodism’s  instinctive  belief  is  that  the  divided 
ranks  of  Christendom  can  never  be  brought  together  by 
being  invited  to  set  aside  cherished  beliefs  nor  by  paring 
down  of  doctrinal  standards.  Nor  can  much  be  done  by 
sameness  of  ritual  forms.  The  better  way,  she  thinks,  and 
perhaps  the  only  way  Christians  will  come  together  into  the 
“unity  of  the  spirit  and  the  bonds  of  peace”  is  by  giving 
themselves  to  correlated  sacrificial  effort  to  serve  mankind. 
It  is  the  very  essence  of  Methodism’s  creed  that  the  resources 
of  the  gospel  of  Christ  are  adequate  to  the  needs  of  man  if 
only  they  be  released.  Her  prevailing  attitude,  therefore, 
is  one  of  ready  comradeship  in  those  great  programs  of 
evangelization  and  human  betterment  which  are  increasingly 
challenging  the  attention  of  our  day. 

Notably,  also,  does  all  this  find  expression  in  the  foreign 
mission  fields.  Here,  facing  the  solid  phalanxes  of  the 
Moslem  and  Pagan  world,  the  separate  divisions  of  the 
Christian  army  have  been  compelled  to  come  together  and 
by  union  of  effort  to  conserve  their  strength,  widen  their 
undertakings,  and,  above  all,  to  achieve  the  moral  impres¬ 
siveness  of  a  united  front. 

Union  universities  in  China,  union  hospitals,  dispensaries, 
orphanages,  presses,  and  secondary  schools  in  many  fields; 
allotments  of  territory  to  be  cultivated  by  the  various  de¬ 
nominations  in  the  Philippines,  Mexico,  South  America  and 
other  fields,  are  all  co-operative  movements  in  which 
Methodism  holds  a  foremost  place. 

Her  dream  is  not  of  “corporate  union,”  beating  life  down 
to  sameness  of  outer  form  or  symbol  of  ritual  or  creed,  but 
that  vital  union  of  correlated  effort  whereby  the  whole 
strength  of  the  church  of  Christ  shall  be  applied  to  the  whole 
task  of  the  world’s  redemption. 


Educational  Problems  and 
Methodism 

By  A.  IV.  Harris 


THE  Preacher  is  more  potent  than  the  Pulpit.  The  Mis¬ 
sionary  more  vital  than  the  Mission  House.  The  value 

of  a  trained  worker  is  not  only  at¬ 
tested  in  the  field  of  religious  en¬ 
deavor,  but  in  the  record  of  every 
enterprise  of  moment.  Education 
is  a  necessary  equipment  for  suc¬ 
cess.  Without  it  men  succeed  only 
through  dumb  luck.  The  kick  of 
a  mule  once  caused  a  man  to  dis¬ 
cover  a  gold  mine,  but  where  one 
man  is  kicked  into  success  fifty 
must  attain  the  goal  by  hard  work. 

There  are  many  who  have 
made  name  and  fortune  with 
little  schooling,  but  not  without 
education.  Many  who  believe  education  is  unnecessary  for 
business,  do  not  discriminate  between  education  and  school¬ 
ing.  The  difference  is  vast.  George  Washington  was  not 
college  trained,  but  he  was  educated.  He  was  a  surveyor. 
Like  other  professional  men  of  his  day,  his  training  was  ac¬ 
quired  by  personal  experience.  His  knowledge  of  strategy 
and  his  papers  as  President  are  further  evidences  of  education. 

Lincoln  never  went  to  college,  but  he  was  the  intellectual 
superior  of  most  men  who  do  go.  He  had  little  help,  few 
books,  but  a  great  deal  of  grit.  His  chief  sources  were  the 
Bible  and  Blackstone.  If  all  boys  were  like  Lincoln,  the 
loss  of  all  our  colleges  might  not  be  irreparable.  Since  they 
are  not,  they  must  be  shown  the  way  to  education.  The 
school  is  merely  the  signpost  on  the  road  pointing  out  the 
way,  which  might  otherwise  be  difficult  to  find.  It  took 
centuries  to  create  an  alphabet  when  no  one  had  broken  the 
road.  Though  a  boy  in  knickers  may  easily  acquire  a  work¬ 
ing  knowledge  of  arabic  numerals,  yet  there  was  a  time 
when  what  he  does  so  simply,  taxed  all  the  ability  of  able 
men. 


Schools  develop  leadership.  There  is  no  way  of  making 
a  leader  as  easily  and  as  surely  as  by  the  systematic  instruc¬ 
tion  of  a  great  teacher.  Is  it  not  significant  that  Jesus  was 
called  the  Great  Physician  Who  made  men  sound  and  the 
Great  Teacher  Who  made  men  understand? 

When  the  United  States  entered  the  war  the  government 
turned  to  the  colleges  for  men  to  organize  resources,  to  in¬ 
crease  production,  and  to  speed  up  activity  in  every  line. 
Professors  were  mobilized.  Those  who  remained  at  their 
schools  taught  the  men  of  the  Student  Army  Training  Corps. 
Not  only  the  faculties,  but  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
young  lieutenants  and  ensigns,  men  who  took  their  com¬ 
panies  “over  the  top,”  who  flew  aeroplanes  and  manned 
submarine  chasers,  were  college  men. 

The  war  is  over.  We  turn  our  attention  from  killing 
men  to  saving  men.  We  went  into  the  war  with  no  thought 

of  gain.  Now  we  go  for  conquest  : 
the  conquest  of  the  world  for 
Christ.  The  need  of  a  vast,  trained 
army  of  missionaries,  preachers,  and 
laymen  with  a  Christian  education, 
is  great.  The  Centenary  reminds 
one  of  Kipling’s  “far  flung  battle 
line.”  Men  must  be  recruited  for 
the  foreign  field.  Many  are  wanted 
in  the  needy  places  at  home.  The 
schools  will  create  the  leaders, 
train  the  workers.  The  mission 
fields  will  give  them  opportun¬ 
ity. 


35 


WORLD  PROGRAM  FOR 


The  Centenary  might  have  been  celebrated  as  some  other  an¬ 
niversaries  have  been  celebrated,  by  a  great  meeting  under  the 

trees,  when  distinguished  representatives  of  the 
Church  would  have  delivered  strong  addresses,  re¬ 
counting  the  history  and  achievements  of  American 
Methodism  in  the  mission  fields  of  the  world.  These 
addresses  could  have  been  preserved  in  a  bound  vol¬ 
ume,  and  would  doubtless  have  been  of  more  or  less 
interest  to  the  research  worker  who  delves  into  the 
embalmed  literature  in  our  great  libraries. 

It  seemed  fitting,  however,  to  the  leaders  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South  and  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
to  commemorate  the  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  founding  of 
our  missionary  work  by  a  careful  study  of  the  whole  missionary 
problem  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  by  an  attempt  to  build  a 
world-program  for  American  Methodism.  The  result  is  that  the 
Centenary  surveys  have  been  compiled.  Back  of  these  compila¬ 
tions,  as  represented  in  the  bound  volumes,  are  the  detailed  facts, 
carefully  classified  and  cross-referenced,  so  that  it  is  possible  to 
find  out  just  what  is  being  done,  and  what  in  the  judgment  of 
the  leaders  ought  to  be  done,  in  any  district  of  the  world  where 
Methodism  is  at  work. 

Thi  s  is  the  most  gigantic  piece  of  world-program  building 
ever  undertaken  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church.  It  in¬ 
volves  the  strategy  of  location,  the  strategy  of  occupation,  the 
strategy  of  movement,  expressed  in  national  and  continental 
terms.  On  the  home  base  side  it  involves  the  whole  question  of 
munitions  and  of  men,  and  the  development  of  enormous  reser¬ 
voirs  of  power  which  would  make  world-conquest  possible. 

In  building  this  world-program  our  horizons  have  been  lifted. 
The  Methodists  in  the  North  have  learned  about  great  mission 
fields  strongly  occupied  by  a  sister  church  concerning  which,  un¬ 
til  the  Centenary  came,  they  had  little  or  no  knowledge.  The 
Methodists  in  the  South  have  had  new  visions  of  possibilities 
of  work  in  Europe,  in  India  and  in  other  lands  where,  until  the 
Centenary  came,  few  realized  that  Methodism  had  any  great  re¬ 
sponsibility.  Thus  world-program  building  for  American  Metho¬ 
dism  has  resulted  in  united  strategy  of  leadership  and  of  a  pro- 


36 


METHODISM  -by  S.  Earl  Taylor 

gram  which  will  make  possible  easy  transition  when  the  two 
churches  shall  unite. 

American  Methodism  has  been  at  school.  Some  of  us  were 
assigned  to  the  study  of  a  rural  church;  some  of  us  were  assigned 
to  a  study  of  a  down-town  parish;  some  of  us  gave  consideration 
to  the  requirements  of  a  pioneer  school  and  church  in  the  heart 
of  the  Congo;  some  of  us  were  assigned  to  the  tasks  of  collecting 
the  general  facts  of  home  missions  and  foreign  missions,  and  to  a 
few  was  given  the  still  larger  task  of  mastering  the  questions  in¬ 
volved  in  international  relationship. 

This  combined  study  has  brought  a  clear  conviction  that  a 
world-program  for  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  must  be  broader 
than  a  Methodist  program.  While  the  most  vigorous  conservation 
and  extension  program  of  the  Centenary  will  be  carried  out  under 
denominational  auspices  we  have  come  to  see  that  each  of  the 
great  Churches  which  bears  His  name  has  a  part  in  bringing 
about  the  glorious  day  when  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  shall 
be  established  throughout  the  earth.  All  have  come  to  realize 
that  the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking --- involving  problems  of 
human  relationship  and  welfare  larger  and  more  difficult  than 
have  ever  yet  been  considered  by  any  peace  conference --- calls  for 
a  strategy  of  combination,  co-ordination  and  readjustment  no  less 
than  that  which  made  the  Allies  triumphant  in  the  great  war. 

The  Centenary,  therefore,  naturally  and  necessarily  leads  the 
Methodist  host  to  the  larger  indications  of  a  world-program  to  be 
prepared  under  the  auspices  of  the  Inter-Church  World  Move¬ 
ment,  and  it  is  cause  for  gratitude  that  the  expert  leadership  de¬ 
veloped  in  making  our  own  surveys  is  available  for  co-operation 
with  the  leaders  of  other  forces  in  building  a  program  which 
will  be  truly  world-wide. 

An  interesting  thing  about  world- program  building  is  that 
the  work  is  not  finished  when  the  plans  are  made  and  the  blue 
prints  drawn.  For  while  we  deal  with  brick  and  mortar,  and 
with  all  the  elements  which  make  up  the  physical  side  of  human 
society,  we  deal  also  with  the  human  soul,  and  with  mighty 
spiritual  forces  which  are  unseen  but  eternal.  The  world- program 
of  today  will  be  but  the  beginning  of  the  larger  world- program 
of  tomorrow. 


37 


Secretaries,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South 


4 )  ESTHER  CASE 


3  MABEL  K.HOWELL 


1(2)  E.H. RAWLINGS 


1  5  W.W.PINSON 


■tys.  R.VJ.njf- 


Varies 


n. 

3- 

4- 

5- 
6. 

7- 

8. 


General  Secretary,  Board  of  Missions. 

Secretary  Department  of  Foreign  Missions,  Board  of 
Secretary  Department  of  Foreign  Missions,  Board  of 
Secretary  Department  of  Foreign  Missions,  Board  of 
Secretary  Department  of  Home  Missions,  Board  of 

Secretary  Department  of  Home  Missions,  Board  of 

Secretary  Department  of  Home  Missions,  Board  of 

Secretary  of  Education,  Board  of  Missions. 


M  issions. 

9- 

IO. 

Missions. 

ii. 

M  issions. 

12. 

Missions. 

13- 

Missions. 

14- 

Missions. 

*5- 

General  Secretary,  Sunday  School  Board. 
Secretary  of  Education,  Board  of  Missions. 
Corresponding  Secretary,  Sunday  School  Board. 
Secretary  Board  of  Church  Extension. 

General  Secretary  Epworth  League. 

Secretary,  Board  of  Finance. 

Secretary,  Board  of  Education. 


Secretaries, 


Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


GEORGL ^ 


IIIPSI 


'ABRmvXsi 


garla^, 


1.  Secretary  Candidates  and  Africa,  Hoard  of  Foreign  Missions. 

2.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

3.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

4.  Secretary  Home  Base  and  Latin  America,  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

5.  Secretary  Southern  Asia,  Board  of  F'oreign  Missions. 

6.  Secretary  Surveys  and  China,  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

7.  Secretary  Medical  Department,  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

8.  Secretary  Bureau  of  Research  and  Surveys,  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 

sions. 

9.  Secretary  Education  and  Literature  in  Foreign  Fields,  Board  of 

Foreign  Missions. 

10.  Executive  Secretary,  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension. 

I  \ssociate  Executive  S'crelarv.  llor"»  Missions  and  Church  Extension. 

12.  Superintendent  Department.  City  Work,  Home  Missions  and  Church 

Extension. 

13.  Superintendent  Department  Frontier  Work,  Home  Missions  and 

Church  Extension. 

14.  Superintendent  Department  Evangelism,  Home  Missions  and  Church 

Extension. 


15.  Superintendent  Department  Publicity,  Home  Missions  and  Church 

Extension. 

16.  Superintendent  Department  Rural  Work,  Home  Missions  and  Church 

Extension. 

17.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Board  of  Sunday  Schools. 

IS.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition  and  Pub¬ 
lic  Morals. 

19.  General  Secretary,  Epworth  League. 

20.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Board  of  Conference  Claimants. 

21.  Superintendent  Department  Church  Extension,  Home  Missions  and 

Church  Extension. 

22.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society. 

23.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society. 

24.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Deaconess  Board. 

25.  Corresponding  Secretary,  Board  of  Education. 

26.  Associate  Secretary,  Board  of  Education. 


39 


Editors,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


6)  JOHN  J.  WALLACE 


11)  R.H. HUGHES 

. 


1.  Book  Editor,  New  York  City. 

2.  Methodist  Year  Book,  New  York  City. 

3.  Sunday  School  Publications,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

4.  Methodist  Review,  New  York  City. 

5.  The  Christian  Advocate,  New  York  City. 

6.  Pittsburgh  Christian  Advocate,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

7.  Western  Christian  Advocate,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

8.  Christian  Apologist,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 


9.  Northwestern  Christian  Advocate,  Chicago,  Ill. 

10.  Central  Christian  Advocate,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 
ix.  Pacific  Christian  Advocate,  Portland,  Oregon. 

12.  The  Epworth  Herald,  Chicago,  Ill. 

13.  California  Christian  Advocate,  San  Francisco,  Calif. 

14.  Methodist  Advocate-Journal,  Athens,  Tenn. 

15.  Southwestern  Christian  Advocate,  New  Orleans,  La 

16.  Zions  Herald,  Boston,  Mass. 


40 


Editors,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South 


1  ip 


jy.C.KlRV^L 


BRANDS 


6)  H.M.BLAIR. 


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11JTH0MAS  N.IVEY 


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I. 

Alabama  Christian  Advocate. 

9- 

St.  Louis  Christian  Advocate. 

2. 

Wesleyan  Christian  Advocate. 

10. 

Methodist  Quarterly  Review. 

3* 

Southern  Christian  Advocate. 

11. 

Christian  Advocate. 

3- 

New  Orleans  Christian  Advocate. 

12. 

Baltimore  Southern  Me.hodist 

5- 

Missionary  Voice. 

13- 

Midland  Methodist. 

6. 

North  Carolina  Christian  Advocate. 

i+. 

Sunday  School  Editor. 

7- 

Young  Christian  Worker. 

1 5- 

Pacific  Advocate. 

8. 

Missionary  Voice. 

16. 

Texas  Christian  Advocate. 

41 


The  Fire  of  Foreign  Missions 

By  Frank  Mason  North 


THERE  is  fire  in  the  heart  of  the  Centenary.  It  is  the 
missionary  passion.  “T  he  eleven”  first  felt  it — that 

group  of  Christian  missionaries 
who,  on  the  mountain  in  Galilee 
“where  Jesus  had  appointed 
them,”  heard  Him  say,  “Go  ye, 
therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all 
the  nations.”  When,  after  the 
wonder  of  Pentecost,  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem 
were  scattered  abroad,  as  embers 
blown  by  some  mighty  rushing 
wind,  strange  fires  were  lighted 
“throughout  the  regions  of  Judea  and  Samaria.”  In  Paul 
hte  inextinguishable  passion  became  an  irresistible  purpose, 
urging  him  to  add  journey  to  journey — to  Asia  Minor,  to 
Macedonia,  to  “Rome  also,”  to  Spain,  “to  the  regions  be¬ 
yond.”  The  early  church  was  a  missionary  church. 

In  the  scriptural  faith  and  primitive  experience  of  John 
Wesley  the  passion  for  winning  men  to  Christ  was  the  burn¬ 
ing  center.  At  one,  in  this  essential  fact  of  experience,  with 
the  true  disciples  of  every  name  through  the  Christian  cen¬ 
turies,  the  early  Methodists  in  England  and  in  America  were 
urged  as  by  a  divine  force  into  the  prisons  and  the  coal-pits, 
“o’er  moor  and  crag  and  fen,”  through  forests,  over  rivers 
and  oceans,  into  the  wilderness  into  the  dark  places  of  great 
cities,  to  find  the  men  to  whom  by  their  hand  and  voice  the 
messages  of  the  Saviour  were  sent.  The  validity  of  the 
commission  of  American  Methodism  is  tested  by  this  fire. 
Its  ranking  credential  is  not  tradition,  discipline,  efficiency, 
method,  creed,  but  flame.  When,  in  the  missionary  century 
whose  end  we  celebrate,  the  hearts  of  the  people  have  shared 
in  our  Lord’s  compassion  for  the  multitudes,  the  church  has 
been  vital  and  victorious.  The  decades  which  have  been 
marked  by  low  fires  have  invariably  shown  dim  faith  and 
slackened  speed. 

The  passion  for  winning  men  to  Christ  has  put  new  light 
and  power  into  the  familiar  term  “foreign  missions.”  Either 


the  whole  world  is  at  our  doors  or  we  are  at  the  open  doors? 
of  the  whole  world.  Invention  and  discovery  with  the  scien¬ 
tific  use  of  their  results  have  worked  mightily  toward  re¬ 
ducing  the  world  to  a  neighborhood,  but  to  this  end  love 
has  done  more.  To  a  conquering  church  with  compassion 
in  its  heart  latitude  and  longitude  count  little.  It  under¬ 
stands  that  maps  are  not  ends  in  themselves.  They  are  not 
people;  they  simply  show  where  people  are.  It  is  not  to 
“foreign”  nations  that  our  messengers  go  —  it  is  just  to 
“other”  nations.  Long  since  the  barriers  of  time  and  distance 
became  fairly  negligible ;  it  is  now  the  barriers  of  language 
and  race,  of  cult  and  custom,  which  we  are  seeking  to  cross. 
The  fires  of  love  have  burned  a  new  meaning  into  the  word 
“foreign.” 

And  they  have  illumined  the  word  “missions”  with  a  new, 
radiating  light  which  is  penetrating  everywhere.  Here  is 
not  the  narrow,  pale,  technical  evangelism,  sacrificial  but 
hopeless,  which  even  some  forward-looking  men  have  thought 
missions  to  be.  Rather  is  this  the  world  enterprise,  a  pro¬ 
gram  for  humanity,  the  evolution  —  the  unrolling  —  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  the  earth,  the  expression  of  God’s  great 
wish  for  the  race.  “Foreign  missions,”  then,  as  this  Cen¬ 
tenary  defines  it,  it  is  simply  the  movement  of  the  people  of 
God  with  hearts  aflame  out  toward  other  peoples  who  are 
still  waiting  to  hear  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. 

At  well-nigh  every  strategic  center  of  the  world’s  thought, 
at  every  crossing  of  the  highways  of  human  life,  stands  now 
the  missionary.  Through  the  years  great-hearted  men  and 
women,  who  have  “counted  not  their  lives  dear  unto  them¬ 
selves,”  have  turned  undaunted  faces  to  the  challenge  of 
the  world’s  need  and  have  broken  through  its  walls  of  dark¬ 
ness  with  the  light  in  their  own  burning  hearts.  What 
the  few  have  seen  has  now  with  ever  broadening  horizons 
revealed  itself  to  the  steadying  gaze  of  the  church’s  multi¬ 
tudes.  The  vision  has  .not  only  fired  the  imagination,  it  has 
fired  the  heart  of  the  people.  May  Methodism  henceforth 
be  ever  known  as  the  church  of  the  burning  heart!  From 
the  heights  of  this  Centennial  celebration  the  church  surelv 
looks  out,  not  upon  a  province,  a  nation,  a  hemisphere,  but  a 
world.  She  has  approached  this  mount  of  vision  through 
the  paths  of  happy  sacrifice,  of  joyous  service.  She  is  hungry 
for  achievement.  The  sense  of  world  enterprise  thrills  her. 

Let  her  be  well  assured  that  the  passion 
in  her  soul  is  the  fire  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
that  He  who  inspires  her  faith  and  calls 
her  to  a  world-conquest,  by  whose  love 
she  is  constrained,  is  none  less  or 
other  than  her  crucified,  risen,  ever-living 
Lord. 


42 


Scenes  in  Lands  Across  the  Sea 


43 


Overseas  Problems 

By  W.  W.  Pinson 

THE  world  war  has  brought  the  Christian  Church  face  to 
face  with  her  world  task  in  a  new  an  dstartling  way. 

The  nationsand  races  of  the  earth 
have  opened  their  hearts  to  each 
other  as  never  before.  The  fron¬ 
tiers  of  indifference  and  of  preju¬ 
dice  have  faded  from  the  map  of 
the  world  and  in  the  white  hot 
forge  of  war  the  world  has  been 
welded  into  a  neighborhood.  This 
demands  the  making  of  the  world 
into  a  brotherhood.  We  have 
learned  in  the  revealings  of  a 
great  tragedy  that  to  make  the 
world  a  safe  place  in  which  to  live 
we  must  make  every  part  of  it 
safe.  So  long  as  there  are  plague  spots  of  unrest  and  ig¬ 
norance  and  anarchy  anywhere,  there  will  be  danger  every¬ 
where. 

This  brings  to  Christianity  the  challenge  of  the  centuries, 
and  American  Christianity  in  particular. 

The  first  problem  confronting  us  is  one  of  superior 
strategy.  We  cannot  think  of  any  country  now  in  relation 
to  its  own  needs  alone.  We  must  think  of  each  in  relation 
to  the  spread  of  the  kingdom.  This  is  especially  true  of 
Europe.  The  Gospel  came  to  us  from  Europe.  It  must  go 
back  from  us  by  way  of  Europe.  Let  any  one  take  the 
trouble  to  study  a  map  of  the  East  and  trace  those  lines  of 
influence  that  bind  the  countries  east  of  the  Mediterranean 
to  Europe,  and  he  will  understand  what  we  mean.  He  will 
find  that  the  near  East,  far  East  and  Africa  are  so  bound 
up  with  the  politics,  the  education,  the  commerce  and  the 
religion  of  Europe  that  it  will  be  difficult,  if  not  well  nigh 
impossible,  to  counteract  or  to  control  those  influences.  Our 
only  hope  is  to  so  dominate  them  with  the  Gospel  that  they 
will  help  and  not  hinder  the  kingdom.  We  have  been  saying 
“Save  America  to  save  the  world”;  we  must  now  say  “Save 
Europe  to  save  the  world”  —  not  in  contradiction  but  with 
equal  truth.  There  lie  dormant  great  missionary  forces 
waiting  to  be  harnessed  and  there  originate  also  forces  of 
evil  that  must  be  eradicated.  Until  this  is  done  the  crown¬ 
ing  day  must  wait.  The  Macedonian  vision  has  appeared 
again.  This  time  it  faces  Westward.  To  Paul  it  faced 
Eastward,  pleading  for  the  Gospel  to  come  over  from  Asia. 
Now  it  calls  on  America  to  come  over  and  carry  the  Gospel 
back  Eastward  by  way  of  Europe,  and  thus  help  them  in  the 
delayed  fulfillment  of  the  pledge  of  the  Christian  centuries. 

The  problem  of  a  right  approach  to  the  people  is  not  in¬ 
considerable.  The  people  are  not  pagan.  They  have  back 
of  them  a  long  line  of  Christian  tradition  and  of  proud  civil¬ 
ization.  They  must  be  approached  with  this  in  view.  The 
attitude  must  be  that  of  the  helper  rather  than  the  teacher. 
The  priest  must  be  lost  in  the  brother,  and  the  ecclesiastic 
in  the  man. 

We  must  go  not  only  as  bearers  of  glad  tid  ngs  but  in  the 
capacity  of  discoverers  in  search  of  every  nugget  of  gold  amid 
the  dross.  We  must  recognize  and  utilize  every  good  influ¬ 
ence  and  every  spiritual  force,  and  supplement  and  fortify 
every  form  of  moral  uplift.  Thus  will  we  be  welcomed  and 
what  we  bring  will  be  multiplied  by  what  we  find. 

Our  aim  must  be  not  simply  to  interpret  Christianity  but 
rather  to  apply  it.  Its  light  should  shine  because  it  burns  in 
our  lives  and  flames  up  in  Christly  deeds.  There  is  again 
a  situation  in  which  the  Master  will  be  seen  and  welcomed 
as  he  goes  about  doing  good. 

Our  great  overseas  problem  is  that  of  Cooperation.  A 
divided  Protestantism  will  make  a  sorry  appeal  if  it  cries  its 
confusing  shibboleths  on  the  streets  and  rends  the  seamless 


robe  in  its  competitions  and  contentions.  It  will  need  the 
combined  resources  and  the  undiluted  influence  of  all  Prot¬ 
estantism  to  meet  and  master  the  situation.  We  must  repeat 
the  history  of  the  allied  strategy  that  won  in  the  war  by 
subordinating  individual  and  national  ambitions  to  military 
success. 

There  is  also  the  problem  of  adequacy  and  efficiency.  No 
small  half-hearted  and  hesitating  program  will  succeed. 
There  must  be  a  breadth  of  policy  and  plan,  a  scale  of 
equipment  and  a  strength  of  leadership  that  are  worthy  and 
commanding.  This  will  mean  men  and  money  on  a  scale 
we  have  not  been  accustomed  to,  but  it  will  also  mean  quicker 
and  more  satisfying  returns. 

Another  problem  is  that  of  immediacy.  The  opportunity 
will  not  wait.  The  fresh  furrows  turned  by  the  plowshare 
of  war  should  be  planted  with  the  good  seed  of  the  Kingdom 
now.  The  stricken  heart  of  the  people  is  crying  for  healing 
and  hope.  “A  civilization  that  required  three  thousand  years 
to  build  is  to  be  rebuilt.”  Reconstruction  must  begin  at  once. 
Once  it  has  been  begun  and  once  the  processes  have  become 
fixed,  the  task  of  changing  it  will  be  hard.  Every  day’s 
delay  increases  the  difficulties  and  multiplies  the  problems. 

The  Centenary  leaders  have  faced  this  challenge  and  have 
determined  to  join  the  forces  of  American  Episcopal  Method¬ 
ism  in  a  thorough-going,  forward-looking  program  of  social, 
moral  and  spiritual  reconstruction  in  the  war-torn  countries. 
The  two  bodies  have,  through  regular  appointed  deputa¬ 
tions,  made  a  survey  of  the  conditions  and  have  asked  their 
bodies  for  some  ten  millions  for  this  purpose.  The  provi¬ 
dence  of  God  timed  the  Centenary  in  conjunction  with  this 
crucial  hour. 

This  is  an  indication  that  He  wills  that  Methodism  should 
not  falter  nor  hesitate  but  should  take  her  full  share  of  this 
great  task.  We  helped  win  the  war  that  made  the  world 
safe  for  democracy.  We  should  do  no  less  than  help  win 
the  greater  victory  which  is  to  make  democracy  safe  for 
the  world. 


44 


The  Centenary  and  the  War 

By  W alter  R.  Lambuth 

THE  world  war  has  brought  tens  of  thousands  of  men  into 
a  realization  of  the  imminence  of  God  in  the  individual 

life,  in  human  consciousness  and 
in  human  affairs.  Ours  is  no  absen¬ 
tee  God.  Neither  will  He  be 
pushed  out  of  men’s  thinking.  In 
Him  we  continue  to  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being. 

The  Centenary  has  brought  to 
us  a  great  task.  In  its  acceptance 
we  have  realized  that  we  need 
divine  power  added  to  human  ef¬ 
fort.  For  a  world  task  we  need  a 
mighty  God.  We  have  a  mighty 
God  who  has  taught  us,  in  these 
last  days,  to  think  in  continents 
to  be  redeemed.  He  helped  us  to 
win  the  war  for  liberty,  for  righteousness  and  for  world 
peace,  and  now,  in  Christ’s  name,  we  gird  ourselves  afresh 
for  the  world’s  evangelization. 

The  war  and  the  Centenary  have  brought  us  into  a  new 
and  enlarged  sense  of  brotherhood,  wider,  deeper  and  more 
significant  than  any  we  have  had  in  our  conception  of  life 
and  of  duty.  We  were  once  concerned  about  our  privileges. 
Such  thoughts  we  have  flung  far  away  from  us.  We  now 
dwell,  not  upon  our  privileges,  but  upon  our  duties.  Oppor¬ 
tunity  still  kindles  the  fires  of  enthusiasm,  but  underlying 
opportunity  there  is  a  deepened  sense  of  responsibility  which 
has  wrought  in  us  an  unshakable  purpose.  The  gospel  of 
vitalized  truth  and  of  man’s  triumph  over  nature;  of  divine 
grace,  full  and  free,  for  every  unsaved  soul,  and  of  God’s 
glory  in  redemption  through  His  beloved  Son,  the  Savior  of 
the  world,  must  be,  shall  be  preached  to  every  creature.  This 
is  our  great  commission  and  our  determining  purpose. 

Even  the  nations  have  come  to  realize  their  place  in  this 
great  brotherhood.  The  peace  conference,  in  its  discussions 
and  findings,  has  recognized  the  obligation  of  a  civilized 
nation  to  be  its  brother’s  keeper  regardless  of  race,  of  class 
or  of  color.  What  is  this  but  the  spirit  of  missions  trans¬ 
muted  into  the  spirit  of  national  service?  It  is  a  great  step 
toward  a  Christian  internationalism  which  will  cement  by 
maximums  rather  than  by  minimums,  the  bonds  of  a  world 
brotherhood. 

The  Centenary  has  a  time  element  which  must  be  inter¬ 
preted  in  the  light  of  Providence.  God’s  purpose,  in  reve¬ 
lation,  and  in  history,  runs  through  all  His  dealings  with 
mankind.  He  leaves  man  to  lay  plans,  but  He  times  events 
and  as  the  great  Master  Builder  gives  them  shape.  The 
coming  of  the  Centenary,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  will  make 
it  a  powerful  factor  in  keeping  the  soul  of  the  world  alive. 
War  puts  a  strain  upon  faith,  upon  judgment,  upon  the 
spirit  of  justice  and  upon  civilization  itself.  Christianity 
with  its  idealism  and  altruism,  its  program  of  service  and 
its  spirit  of  sacrifice  arrests  attention,  raises  moral  issues  and 
creates  a  common  conscience.  When  moral  issues  emerge, 
men  must  take  sides.  When  the  conscience  of  the  people 
is  stirred,  great  moral  upheavals  will  follow,  and  reforms 
take  place.  Under  the  leadership  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  this 
missionary  movement,  we  may  expect  a  deep  and  widespread 
awakening  and  a  mighty  work  of  grace.  In  the  rediscovery 
of  God,  man  discovers  himself,  and  the  church  is  aroused  to 
her  mission. 

Missionary  revivals  have  followed  great  wars.  Mission¬ 
ary  societies  have  sprung  up  in  their  wake,  and  new  missions 
have  been  planted  at  home  and  abroad.  It  was  not  the  war 
—  God  forbid  such  a  thought  —  but  the  heroic  sacrifices 
made,  not  the  strife  but  the  suffering,  the  silent  heroisms  and 
the  intercession  of  broken-hearted  men  and  women  who 


have  turned  to  Christ  as  the  only  hope  of  sin-stricken 
humanity.  If  the  Centenary  is  to  be  permanent  in  its  in¬ 
fluence  and  fruitage  its  roots  must  strike  deep  in  the  soil  of 
humility,  of  repentance,  of  unconquerable  faith,  of  a  sound 
mind,  and  of  that  love  which  recognizing  man’s  desperate 
need,  over-leaps  all  barriers,  knows  neither  distinction  of 
class  or  creed,  and  which  as  a  motive  is  big  enough  to  float 
a  life,  to  float  ten  thousand  lives,  to  float  a  world. 

The  church  in  this  movement  has  launched  its  greatest 
crusade,  “The  Centenary  is  Methodism’s  moral  equivalent 
for  war.”  The  hosts  of  evil  are  arrayed  against  us,  but  in 
general  Petain’s  immortal  words,  as  he  stood  at  the  gate  of 
Verdun,  “They  shall  not  pass!” 

The  church  finds  its  supreme  opportunity  in  the  Centen¬ 
ary.  The  days  we  have  passed  through  were  critical  days 
for  civilization.  Militarism  like  a  leopard  was  at  its  throat. 
But  the  days  before  us  are  more  critical.  There  is  less  of 
the  spectacular  but  more  of  the  real,  as  that  real  concerns 
the  fundamental  interests  of  humanity.  In  the  war,  autoc¬ 
racy  and  democracy  were  at  death  grips.  Serious  enough, 
for  it  meant  the  slavery  or  the  freedom  of  mankind ;  but  the 
greater  struggle  in  which  we  are  engaged  involves  the  un¬ 
losing  and  ultimate  triumph  of  those  spiritual  forces  which 
must  overwhelm  the  powers  of  darkness,  enthrone  the  truth, 
build  Christian  manhood  and  womanhood,  and  establish  the 
kingdom  of  God.  In  all  this  mighty  conflict  the  spirit  of  a 
Greater  Leader  is  with  us.  In  His  name  we  share,  from 
this  great  hour,  in  duty  and  in  danger,  in  privilege  and  in 
obligation,  until  the  task  is  finished  and  the  war  for  the 
redemption  of  man  and  of  nature  is  won. 

The  Centenary  comes  in  as  the  old  order  changes,  when 
new  strategic  centers  like  Constantinople  and  Odessa, 
Jerusalem  and  Bagdad  are  to  be  occupied,  and  new  areas, 
such  as  Russia  and  Siberia,  Messopotamia  and  Arabia  are  to 
be  evangelized.  How  significant  the  furrow  which  has  been 
plowed  straight  through  the  heart  of  Europe  and  of  the 
Mohammedan  world !  This  missionary  campaign  comes  at 
an  hour  when  the  need  of  humanity  is  deepest  and  when  its 
cry  has  been  the  bitterest,  but  it  also  comes  when  the  tides 
of  sympathy  are  highest,  the  spirit  of  liberality  at  its  fullest, 
the  prayer  spirit  richest  and  when  opportunity  is  written  in 
world  terms.  America  was  used  of  God  to  help  save  France 
and  to  insure  the  safety  of  Europe  and  of  civilization.  Now 
for  the  conquest  of  the  world,  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of 
civilization  but  for  Christ. 


45 


Showing  the  Need  for  Reconstruction 


46 


They  won  the  war — We  must  win  them 


47 


If  Methodi  sin  Fails 

By  Theodore  S.  Henderson 

AMERICA  has  the  gift  of  the  souvenir.  America  has 
never  forgotten.”  These  were  the  thrilling  words 
which  a  French  government  offi¬ 
cial  said  to  the  deputation  of 
American  Methodism  in  France. 
Recalling  with  evident  emotion 
the  days  when  France  assisted  in 
nursing  the  infant  Republic  of 
America  to  a  vigorous  life,  this  offi¬ 
cial  proudly  recognized  that  this 
infant  Republic,  now  grown  to  vir¬ 
ile  manhood,  did  not  forget  her  old 
nurse  when  she  was  in  dire  trouble. 
H  as  America  “the  gift  of  the 
souvenir,”  does  she  forget,  can 
she  say:  “Oh  France,  fair  France, 
may  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning  and  my  tongue  cleave 
to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  if  I  forget  thee?” 

America  has  been  God’s  prophet  in  Europe  of  interna¬ 
tional  good  will.  The  varied  voices  have  jarred  at  the 
Peace  Conference  and  at  times  seemed  like  strident  screams 
of  unalloyed  selfishness.  Political  and  social  interests  have 
clashed  and  have  nearly  smashed  the  hope  of  world  federa¬ 
tion.  National  groups  struggle  for  economic  and  military 
supremacy  with  territorial  expansion  as  justifiable  honor¬ 
ariums,  but  above  all  the  din  of  selfish  clamor  America’s 
voice  has  been  heard  calling  for  fraternity  and  fellowship 
among  all  the  nations,  on  a  Christian  basis. 

America  owes  Europe  whatever  God  has  given  America, 
on  the  Christian  principle  that  having  received  any  good 
from  anybody  anywhere,  we  owe  it  to  everybody  every¬ 
where.  Little  wonder  that  Mr.  Wilson  said  in  defending 
the  world  demand  for  a  League  of  Nations  led  by  America, 
“If  America,  at  this  juncture,  should  fail  the  world,  what 
would  come  to  the  world  ?  America  is  the  hope  of  the 
world.”  It  is  truer  now  than  when  he  said  it.  America 
owes  every  good  thing  which  God  has  entrusted  to  America. 
America  must  pay  her  debt  to  Europe.  God  expects  it.  God 
requires  it  if  America  is  to  be  Christian.  If  America  fails, 
God  will  raise  up  a  nation  that  will  not  fail. 

If  Protestantism  fails  Europe  in  this  tragic  hour  of  her  re¬ 
ligious  need  no  such  chance  will  come  again  in  a  thousand 
years.  American  Protestantism  is  on  trial.  American 
Protestantism  is  the  only  religious  hope  for  the  continent  of 
Europe.  England  is  crippled  for  men  and  money.  England 
does  not  ask  help  for  herself.  England  fought  for  democ¬ 
racy  while  America  talked.  England  wrought  while  Amer¬ 
ica  wrote  notes.  England  is  impoverished,  but  with  head 
unbowed.  She  will  meet  her  world  responsibilities  in  her 
colonies  for  Christian  expansion,  but  we  dare  not  ask  more 
from  her.  She  cannot  be  asked  to  take  the  added  burden  to 
reconstruct  the  religious  life  of  the  continent  of  Europe. 
That  is  the  task  of  American  Protestantism.  If  American 
Protestantism  fails  Europe  is  doomed. 

American  Methodism  must  lead  American  Protestantism 
in  Europe.  God  has  providentially  placed  American  Method¬ 
ism  in  many  of  the  strongholds  of  Europe.  In  nearly  every 
warring  nation  Methodism  is  intrenched.  Will  Methodism 
dare  to  look  into  the  face  of  God  with  the  confidence  of  her 
Master  and  say,  “Father,  the  hour  is  come.”  The  world’s 
hour  is  here. 

I  he  Joint  Centenary  of  American  Methodism  could  not 
have  been  better  timed  if  its  leaders  had  studied  the  calendar 
for  five  hundred  years.  Reconstruction  is  at  the  heart  of  the 
program  of  the  Methodist  Centenary.  Vigorously  and  vitally 
applied  in  Europe  it  will  rebuild  the  wasted  villages,  revive 
the  shattered  hopes,  re-unite  the  scattered  families  and  restore 
the  bruised  life  of  battle-ridden  and  shell-scarred  Europe. 
Not  only  must  houses  be  rebuilt;  lives  must  be  remade.  Not 


only  must  school  houses  be  rebuilt  and  resumed ;  education 
must  be  transfigured  with  spiritual  ideals.  Not  only  must 
village  life  and  custom  be  renewed  but  dead  hopes  must  be 
resurrected.  Methodism  dare  not  do  one  without  the  other. 
She  plans  to  do  both  in  her  reconstruction  program,  made 
possible  by  the  gifts  of  the  Methodist  Centenary.  Methodism 
has  the  message  for  permanent  reconstruction.  Her  interpre¬ 
tation  of  the  gospel  is  the  practical  test  of  God  in  the  personal 
life.  Methodism  depends  not  on  ecclesiastical  tradition  for 
its  power,  nor  yet  on  the  millinery  of  excessive  ritualism,  nor 
yet  again  on  the  verbal  accuracies  of  a  credal  statement.  All 
these  may  exist  and  the  Church  be  dead.  Methodism  sings 
her  song  of  personal  deliverance,  both  as  a  challenge  and  a 
test. 

“He  breaks  the  power  of  cancelled  sin, 

He  sets  the  prisoner  free ; 

H  is  blood  can  make  the  foulest  clean, 

H  is  blood  availed  for  me.” 

The  accent  is  on  the  personal  problem.  The  test  is  in  the 
personal  life.  Therefore  it  was  not  strange  for  a  French 
statesman  to  say  to  our  representative,  “we  know  your  Chris¬ 
tianity  and  are  not  afraid  of  it.  God,  immortality,  duty; 
these  were  the  three  big  religious  ideas  which  captivated  and 
captured  our  soldiers  in  the  trenches  and  in  the  camp.  Meth¬ 
odism  makes  these  truths  live  in  her  message.  Methodism 
sends  a  man  from  the  University,  from  the  farm,  from  the 
store,  from  the  trenches,  and  from  the  factory  into  God’s 
laboratory  and  fearlessly  says,  put  these  ideas  into  the  test 
tube  of  your  daily  life,  try  them.  You  need  not  argue,  you 
need  not  analyze,  you  need  not  explain.  Test  them,  try 
them  out.” 

Methodism  has  the  method  of  permanent  reconstruction. 
Her  evangelicalism  finds  expression  in  social  welfare.  True 
to  her  credentials  Methodism  affirms  that  social  welfare 
which  does  not  find  its  source  in  personal  contact  with  a  liv¬ 
ing  Christ  is  impotent,  and  Evangelicalism  which  does  not 
have  fruit  in  social  welfare  barren.  No  church  can  make 
any  worthy  contribution  to  the  permanent  reconstruction  and 
the  life  of  Europe  which  does  not  face  fearlessly  the  social 
facts  of  a  broken  continent.  If  ever  it  were  true  anywhere 
that  “we  are  guilty  of  each  other’s  sins;  and  the  gospel  which 
is  to  save  us  must  save  us  together.”  It  is  true  in  Europe. 
Wherever  American  Methodism  goes  in  Europe  it  was  agreed 
by  the  commissioners  sent  to  Europe  “that  the  standard  of 
the  church  center  which  we  shall  seek  to  establish  shall  in¬ 
clude  always  in  one  community  of  work  the  ideal  of  spiritual 
worship  and  the  equipment  therefore,  and  the  provision  and 
program  for  community  service  with  the  purpose  of  bring¬ 
ing  the  people  to  the  higher  life  of  the  spirit  by  sharing  with 
them  the  experience  and  fellowship  of  the  common  life.” 

Methodism  has  the  spirit  requisite  for  permanent  recon¬ 
struction.  Said  a  prominent  government  leader  to  our  com¬ 
missioners:  “We  need  an  ambitious  church.”  What  he 
meant  by  that  was  that  none  but  a  church  which  loved  to 
dare  bold  things  for  God  could  win  in  Europe.  American 
Methodism  delights  to  live  generously  for  God.  We  are  a 
militaristic  church.  We  take  holy  pride  in  the  truth  that  we 
are  a  militant  church.  Our  founders,  John  Wesley  and 
Francis  Asbury  were  militant  men  of  God.  None  other  are 
their  worthy  successors.  We  dare  to  enter  the  hardest 
places  in  Europe. 

American  Methodism  expects  to  invest  not  less  than 
twenty  million  dollars  within  five  years  for  the  reconstruction 
piogram  in  Europe.  When  that  is  done  Methodism  will  only 
meet  her  share  of  the  task.  American  Protestantism  will  fol¬ 
low  with  her  full  share  of  the  reconstruction  obligation.  But 
if  American  Methodism  fails,  American  Protestantism  will 
fail.  Then  America  will  fail  and  God  will  be  broken¬ 
hearted.  Brooding  over  American  Methodism  in  this  crucial 
hour  is  the  Son  of  God  saying,  “I  have  prayed  for  thee  that 
thy  faith  fail  not.”  Never  yet  have  we  failed.  The  answer 
must  go  back  to  our  ascendant  and  triumphant  Lord,  “We 
will  not  fail  Thee,  O  Victorious  Christ.” 


48 


Unification  of  American  Meth¬ 
odism 


By  John  M.  Aloore 


AMERICAN  Methodism  has  no  heart  to  defend  any 
longer  the  existence  of  16  independent  Methodist  bodies 

in  the  United  States,  with  no 
strong  religious,  political  or  social 
reason  for  the  continuation  of  such 
divisions.  “Why  do  they  not  get 
together?”  The  answer  is,  “How?” 

Methodists  have  always  had 
oneness  in  the  essentials  of  church 
life  and  thought,  and  that  has 
made  it  necessary  in  their  rivalries 
for  them  to  stress  instruments  of 
polity,  sectional  prejudices  and 
racial  attitudes.  These  now  rise 
up  to  create  a  perplexing  task  for 
those  appointed  to  find  a  method 
for  doing  what  practically  all  would  rejoice  to  haw  done. 
Methodists  have  had  “spreading  scriptural  holiness”  for 
their  main  business,  but  law  making  and  machinery  con¬ 
struction  have  been  a  strong  side  line.  How  now  to  make 
the  machinery  for  a  united  Methodism  that  will  not  scrap 
all  that  of  the  bodies  entering  the  organization,  and  disre¬ 
gard  the  pet  prejudices  of  the  long-ago  leaders,  is  not  an 
easy  matter. 

Unification  went  far  on  the  way  when  it  was  clearly  seen 
that  neither  church  has  a  system  that  is  equal  to  a  practical 
administration  of  a  combined,  nation-wide  Methodism. 
Some  do  not  see  that  yet,  and  these  are  they  who  are  now 
holding  down  the  speed  of  the  negotiations.  Just  as  the 
recognition  of  states  was  the  prerequisite  to  the  formation  of 
the  American  Union,  and  just  as  states  are  essential  now 
to  a  satisfactory  and  adequate  administration  in  the  nation, 
so  regional  areas  with  administrative  functions  are  essential 
to  such  a  nation-wide  church  as  united  Methodism  would 
be.  This  was  made  in  the  beginning  a  “basic  principle.” 
This  republic  is  not  suffering  in  its  unity  because  of  the  state 
system.  In  fact,  unity  prevails  because  of  the  state  system. 
The  unity  of  American  Methodism  will  all  but  necessarily 
depend  upon  some  such  system  for  its  consummation  and  then 
for  its  continuation.  Such  a  system  has  been  indorsed  by 
the  General  Conferences  of  the  two  strongest  churches  and 
is  the  basis  of  the  present  negotiations.  While  some  diffi¬ 
culties  have  developed  in  fitting  up  the  Regional  Confer¬ 
ence,  defining  its  powers,  scope,  and  boundaries,  and  its  rela¬ 
tion  to  the  General  Conference,  yet  these  have  been  gradually 
dissolved,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  all  will 
be  fully  removed. 

There  is  a  difficulty  in  the  way  of  unification  which  no 
one  has  yet  seen  how  to  remove,  and  here  unification  halts. 
Negro  Methodists  are  1,850,000  strong,  but  they  are  in 
four  groups;  three  independent  bodies  with  1,500,000  and 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  with  340,000.  One  of  the 
independent  bodies,  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  with  a  membership  of  290,000,  has  close  relations 
with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  which  neither 
church  would  have  destroyed.  These  four  Negro  groups 
are  in  all  parts  of  the  South,  and  the  Southern  white  people 
know  no  distinction  among  them,  but  help  all  as  occasions 
arise,  although  the  Church,  South,  makes  special  appropria¬ 
tions  to  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  No  one 
would  indorse  the  disruption  of  these  relations  nor  the  less¬ 
ening  of  the  ties  that  exist  anywhere  between  white  Method¬ 
ists  and  Negro  Methodists.  This  is  what  makes  the  negotia¬ 
tions  difficult.  Constructing  a  plan  for  putting  the  two 
churches  together  is  the  only  task  committed  to  the  Com¬ 
missioners,  but  an  agreement  that  left  fifteen  churches  instead 
of  sixteen,  and  keen  rivalry,  altar  against  altar,  and  race  un¬ 
pleasantness  if  not  suspicion,  would  fall  short  of  the  goal. 


There  are  1,500,000  Negro  Methodists  in  the  United 
States  in  seven  of  their  own  bodies.  There  are  340,000 
Negro  Methodists  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
There  are  6,000,000  white  Methodists  in  various  bodies. 
What  is  the  unification  sought?  There  might  be  three  plans. 
First,  that  all  the  Methodist  Churches,  White,  Negro  and 
mixed  be  formed  into  one  organization.  Such  a  plan  has 
not  been  suggested  and  is  probably  not  desired  by  any.  The 
difficulties  would  seem  almost  insuperable  upon  any  basis  of 
union  which  has  so  far  been  considered.  Second,  that  of  a 
united  white  Methodism  and  another  of  the  united  Negro 
Methodism,  with  a  league  of  Methodism  to  connect  the  two 
for  such  cooperation  as  the  work  might  suggest  and  require. 
This  plan  meets  difficulty  with  the  mixed  churches.  The 
Negro  membership,  numbering  about  350,000,  is  there  by 
choice  and  training,  and  has  constitutional  rights  which  it 
does  not  desire  to  surrender.  No  one  would  deny  them  the 
right  to  choose  their  line  of  action  in  working  out  their 
Methodist  and  religious  destiny.  The  third  plan  is  the  one 
that  has  occupied  the  thought  of  the  churches  up  to  date. 
It  leaves  unification  incomplete,  so  far  as  its  real  purpose  is 
concerned.  It  leaves  the  seven  Negro  Methodist  bodies  to 
form  such  a  union  upon  their  own  initiative  and  such  plans 
as  they  may  agree  upon.  The  three  larger  bodies,  with  a 
combined  membership  of  1,500,000,  are  now  in  negotiations 
for  union.  Then  it  leaves  the  white  and  mixed  bodies  with  a 
white  membership  of  6,000,000  and  a  Negro  membership  of 
350,000  to  unite.  In  this  organization  the  Negro  member¬ 
ship  would  be  segregated  into  churches  and  conferences  of 
their  own,  as  they  are  now  in  the  mixed  bodies,  and  would 
have  limited  representation  in  the  General  Conference.  The 
Joint  Commission  on  Unification  has  not  yet  been  able  to 
come  to  full  agreement  upon  the  powers  of  the  Negro  Re¬ 
gional  Conference,  or  upon  the  amount  of  their  representa¬ 
tion  in  the  General  Conference  and  on  the  General  Boards, 
and  their  voice  in  constitutional  maters. 

There  are  divergencies  in  polity,  forms,  ceremonies,  usages 
and  terminology  which  require  harmonizing,  but  adjustment 
in  these  is  not  difficult,  except  to  the  man  who  makes  con¬ 
victions  of  all  his  opinions.  The  two  outstanding  difficulties 
are  as  indicated,  in  the  construction  of  an  acceptable,  satis¬ 
factory  and  adequate  Regional  Conference  system  and  in  the 
adjustment  of  such  a  general  system  as  will  harmonize  the 
relations  of  Negro  and  white  Methodists  to  each  other,  and 
their  relations  in  their  respective  groups.  Yet  it  is  not  un¬ 
reasonable  to  expect  that  unification  will  be  accomplished  and 
in  no  long  period  of  time.  The  Regional  Conference  system 
is  far  on  in  its  outlines.  When  the  purpose  of  the  unifica¬ 
tion  is  kept  constantly  in  view,  the  race  adjustment  will 
gradually  come  about.  The  real  issue  is  the  harmonizing  of 
sixteen  Methodist  bodies,  or  at  least  the  major  six,  who  are 
now  in  each  other’s  way  and  making  for  each  other  friction, 
unholy  rivalries,  and  causing  for  the  people  indefensible 
divisions.  To  accomplish  this  there  must  be  created  such 
ecclesiastical  forms  as  will  not  allow  the  race  question  to  be 
ever  on  the  horizon,  causing  embarrassment  and  often  bit¬ 
terness,  but  which  will  secure  bona  fide  cooperation  of  the 
races  and  establish  and  maintain  race  relations  that  will  be 
sympathetic  and  helpful. 

Unification  is  a  task  not  to  be  relinquished  until  finished. 
The  new  temper  of  all  Methodists  and  all  races  is  the  basis 
for  a  new  expectation  of  its  certain  consummation.  All  the 
six  major  Methodists  bodies  are  now  thinking  in  terms  of 
unification.  The  Centenary  was  a  glorious  experiment  in 
unified  Methodist  action.  The  spirit  of  the  times  is  the 
spirit  of  cooperation.  Men  are  finding  new  ways  of  working 
together.  The  church  is  made  up  of  such  men.  The  world 
needs  a  League  of  Methodism,  as  it  needs  a  League  of 
Nations.  The  beginning  should  be  with  the  re-grouping  in 
this  republic,  of  our  Methodist  bodies  upon  a  basis  that  will 
b^  defensible,  worthy,  and  adequate  for  the  service  which 
our  nation  and  the  world  claim  at  our  hands.  This  can  be 
done.  This  will  be  done.  This  I  steadfastly  believe. 


49 


Costumes  for  Celebration  Participants 


SO 


in  the  Pageants  and  in  the  Life  Plays 


51 


«illiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiliiiiiliiiiiiiiiillliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiliiiiiiiiiiiillMiiiiliililiillliiiiiiiiiiiii«iiinliiiMiiiiiiililliiiiniiliitilliliiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiilliiiiliiiiliiiiiiiiii'ii'<tiltiiililiiiiltllliiilliiiiiltlliiiiiiiilillliiilliilliiiliniiililiiiiiiiiilliiii  . . . . mi . . . . . 1 . iiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiii . . . . . miiii.miimimmimimimmmmimmmimil.ir 

=  . . .  mi  t  iiiuiMiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMnMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiililiiittiiiM-Siiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiii^  ^ 


miimmmiimmmmiimiiiiiiiiii 


II 


=  = 

1  1 
i  = 

If 


A  Centenary  Hymn 

By  Frank  Alason  North 

Touch  Thou,  O  Lord,  the  century’s  crest  with  light, 
Kindle  with  holy  flame  our  sacrifice, 

Unveil  Thy  glorious  purpose  to  our  sight, 

Give  clearer  vision  to  our  lifted  eyes. 

We  hear  far  down  the  future’s  widening  way 

The  springing  tread  of  multitudes  made  free. 

The  nations  stir  as  those  who  greet  the  day, 

Around  the  world  rolls  ringing  reveille. 

Thou  seest  their  toil,  though  by  the  world  unseen, 
Thou  hear’st  their  cry  for  help,  for  daily  food. 

Challenge  thy  people,  Lord,  to  make  more  keen 
The  undefeated  quest  for  brotherhood. 

Up  from  the  shadowed  lands  the  murmur  swells 
Of  broken  hearts,  of  discontent,  of  strife, 

Of  faith  perverted,  quickened  hope — it  tells 
The  multitudes  have  felt  the  surge  of  life. 

Hear  Thou,  O  Lord,  and  teach  Thy  Church  to  hear! 
To  save  the  suffering  peoples  Thou  hast  died. 

Can  we  who  love  Thee  fail  the  cross  to  bear 

Since  Thou  for  them  and  us  wast  crucified? 

Lead  on,  O  Glorious  Christ,  through  lands  and  years! 
Our  hearts  have  caught  the  sounds  of  victory. 

Before  our  faith  the  wondrous  day  appears 

When  all  the  world  shall  love  and  worship  Thee. 


Tune — National  Hymn  704,  Methodist  Hymnal. 


•  iiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiitiiitifiitiiiiiiiiii(ii*>>'''iiMiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiittiiiiiiiiii«iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiMiiiiiitiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii||||||||||l|l|||M||||||l||l||||M||imiiii|,|||,|,,,,MMM,,|M,|,ll|,ll,l,l,mil|,m|ll,lllllllininimiM  § 

mmmmimmmmimmmimmmimimmmmmmmimmmmmimmimmmmmmimmimmimmmmmmiimmiiimmmiimmmmmiiiiiiimiiimiimiimimmmimmmimimiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiimiiiimmiiiimimmmiim  JimmmmmmiiiimimimmiMumiitiumjaiummiiiuim 


mimiiimmmiiimimmmmiimmmm.z 


52 


The  Children  and  Young  People  of  Methodism 

By  Edgar  Blake 


i  i  \H  you  blind  leaders,  who  seek  to  convert  the  world 
by  laboured  disputations!  Step  out  of  the  way  or 
the  world  must  fling  you  aside. 
Give  us  the  young.  Give  us  the 
young  and  we  will  create  a  new 
mind  and  a  new  earth  in  a  single 
generation.”  These  words  con¬ 
stitute  the  challenging  conclusion 
of  that  remarkable  post-humous 
book,  The  Science  of  Power,  by 
Benjamin  Kidd.  It  is  a  cry  that 
is  singularly  reinforced  and  em¬ 
phasized  by  present  world  condi¬ 
tions.  It  is  the  hour  of  recon¬ 
struction,  and  now  as  never  before 
everything  depends  upon  what  we 
do  with  youth  in  the  momentous  years  that  are  unfolding. 
The  church  must  lead  if  the  kingdom  is  to  come  in  this  new 
era  and  the  power  of  the  church  lies  with  the  coming 
generation. 

Think  of  the  unmeasured  potency  of  this  constituency  in 
both  branches  of  Methodism!  There  are  nearly  53,000 
Sunday  Schools  with  554,000  teachers  and  officers,  and  five 
and  a  third  million  pupils  and  an  Epworth  League  mem¬ 
bership  of  nearly  a  million  in  these  two  mighty  churches 
of  Wesley. 

The  power,  however,  of  this  vast  army  of  youth  lies  not 
simply  in  this  stupendous  numerical  showing  thus  recorded 
but  in  the  deeper  resources  latent  in  every  one  of  these 
millions  of  lives.  We  have  scarcely  touched  the  possibilities 
of  youth  in  all  our  planning  and  yet  we  have  had  before 
our  very  eyes  multiplied  demonstrations  of  its  hidden  power 
and  value  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Consider  primarily 
the  glad  response  on  the  part  of  childhood  and  youth  to  the 
call  of  Christ  for  the  personal  surrender  of  life.  For  ex¬ 
ample,  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  there  were  re¬ 
ported  approximately  two  million  conversions  from  the 
Sunday  School  in  the  period  from  1907  to  1918,  and 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  reported  350,000 
for  the  period  1914  to  1918. 

Again  in  both  the  Methodist  Episcopal  and  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  the  growth  in  church  membership 
depends  almost  entirely  upon  enlistment  from  the  Sunday 
School  until  today  fully  eighty-five  per  cent  of  that  mem¬ 
bership  is  recruited  from  this  source..  In  the  latter  denomi¬ 
nation  the  Sunday  School  percentage  of  church  membership 
has  steadily  increased  from  sixty-five  per  cent  in  1900  to 
over  ninety  per  cent  in  1918. 

So  much  for  the  response  to  the  call  for  enlistment.  Per¬ 
haps,  however,  the  test  is  a  financial  one.  Here  once  more 
we  view  the  whole  hearted  consecration  of  youth.  More 
than  a  million  dollars  annually  has  been  contributed  for  a 
number  of  years  by  the  various  organizations  of  young  people 
in  these  two  churches  toward  missionary  and  benevolent 
enterprises  while  under  the  call  and  inspiration  of  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  campaign  they  multiplied  that  figure  by  at  least  four. 
During  the  stress  and  strain  of  the  recent  war  the  Sunday 
schools  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  gave  in  addition 
to  all  their  regular  offerings  nearly  $150,000  to  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Red  Cross  and  almost  $500,000  for  the  relief  of  the 
stricken  people  of  Armenia,  Syria  and  Western  Asia. 
Similar  proportionate  contributions  were  made  by  the 
schools  oft  he  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  their  Ar- 
menian-Syria  Relief  contribution  going  to  nearly  $75,000. 

But  beyond  the  personal  surrender  of  life  and  enlistment 
in  church  membership  and  beyond  the  sacrifice  of  material 
resources  comes  that  highest  gift  of  life  itself  in  practical 
service  for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Here 
again  youth  is  not  found  wanting.  For  the  past  several 


years  at  the  Epworth  League  institutes  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  between  500  and  1000  young  people  have 
indicated  their  desire  to  enlist  for  life  in  some  form  of 
missionary  service.  At  least  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  min¬ 
isters,  missionaries  and  social  workers  of  Methodism  are 
recruited  from  the  Sunday  School  and  the  Epworth  League. 
Surely  it  is  amply  proven  that  from  the  young  we  can 
“create  a  new  mind  and  a  new  earth  in  a  single  generation.” 

We  face  the  future.  How  are  we  going  to  deal  with 
our  youth  and  what  may  we  expect  from  them?  For  the 
sake  of  the  world  of  tomorrow  the  Centenary  movement 
must  be  continued  and  made  permanent  in  the  life  of  the 
church.  This  can  only  be  accomplished  as  we  train  our 
millions  of  children  in  the  ideals,  purposes  and  methods  of 
world  redemption.  If  we  fail  here  the  largest  results  of  the 
Centenary  will  be  forever  lost.  We  have  sadly  missed  our 
largest  opportunity  in  this  field  during  the  years  gone  by. 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  twenty  million  children  and  young 
people  in  these  United  States  are  absolutely  outside  of  all 
institutions  for  religious  education,  Jewish,  Roman  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  something  of  the  proportions  of  our  neglect 
is  apparent.  With  our  Sunday  Schools  annually  losing  from 
fifty  to  seventy-five  per  cent  of  their  teen  age  membership  we 
see  another  aspect  of  our  partial  failure.  It  is,  therefore, 
of  supreme  importance  at  this  junction  that  Methodism  shall 
conserve  and  increase  as  never  before  her  most  valuable 
asset.  For  this  many  facilities  are  needed  —  better  Sunday 
School  buildings,  better  organization,  better  equipment, 
better  literature.  Most  of  all,  however,  we  need  leaders 
and  teachers  of  deepest  consecration  and  most  thorough 
training  for  the  supreme  task  of  Methodism  and  the  king¬ 
dom.  The  call  has  gone  out  from  the  Centenary  head¬ 
quarters  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  the  53,000 
workers  that  will  be  needed  during  the  next  four  years  for 
the  home  and  foreign  missionary  activities  of  the  church. 
A  summons  for  life  service  likewise  comes  from  the  Method¬ 
ist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Thus  probably  not  less  than 
75,000  young  people  will  be  needed  for  the  immediate  pro¬ 
gram  of  these  two  branches  of  Methodism.  These  persons 
must  come,  if  they  come  at  all,  out 
of  the  Sunday  Schools  and  Epworth 
Leagues  of  the  church.  Who  will 
train  them?  Here  is  the  challe-g- 
ing  task  for  those  who  would  make 
life’s  finest  investment. 


S3 


Children  of  the  Tenements 


54 


Children  in  Foreign  Lands 


55 


pzm 

mty  w  *  j 


™  **imn  i 
If  «WKw 


m  win  Ml  *m 
OK  MKJ#  TW  mssw* 

wnv 


iiii 

■xt'kit  W?M*:  \ 


jkdwe'is&I 


Temperance 

Reform 

and 

Methodism 


THE^l00NK? 
( -» Jk 

or 

(  U5t0.Wrs°’"^ 

towfoanh™; 


Bv  James  Cannon 


& 


WHEN  in  1739  John  Wesley,  the  founder  of  Method¬ 
ism,  formulated  the  general  rules  for  the  United  So¬ 
cieties,  he  embedded  in  that  re¬ 
markable  historic  document  as  one 
of  the  conditions  of  membership: 
“It  is  expected  of  all  who  continue 
therein,  that  they  shall  continue 
to  evidence  their  desire  of  salva¬ 
tion  ;  First,  by  doing  no  harm,  by 
avoiding  evil  of  every  kind  such 
as:  (the  following  being  one  of 
the  specifications  of  harm  or  evil) 
drunkenness,  buying  or  selling 
spirituous  liquors,  or  drinking 
them,  unless  in  cases  of  extreme 
necessity.” 

With  that  wonderful  perception  of  spiritual  values,  and 
of  the  necessity  for  practical,  clear-cut  courageous  discrim¬ 
ination  between  the  evil  and  the  good,  which  made  him  one 
of  the  greatest  religious  leaders  of  the  world,  Mr.  Wesley 
recognized  clearly,  and  then  emphasized  positively,  the  in¬ 
herent  antagonism  between  the  aims  of  Methodism  and  the 
evils  necessarily  accompanying  the  liquor  traffic.  He,  there¬ 
fore,  not  only  branded  the  traffic  as  “doing  harm,”  but  de¬ 
clared  that  if  a  member  of  the  society  did  not  observe  the 


rule  “he  hath  no  more  place  among  us”  —  that  is,  not  being 
in  harmony  with  the  great  aims  of  the  United  Societies, 
it  is  not  possible  for  him  to  be  an  efficient  worker  or  member. 

This  sweeping  declaration,  made  nearly  two  hundred  years 
ago,  at  a  time  when  drinking  and  drunkenness  were  ex¬ 
ceedingly  common,  not  only  erected  a  standard  for  the  in¬ 
dividual  members  of  the  Methodist  Societies,  but  has  deter¬ 
mined  the  attitude  of  Methodism  as  a  great  religious  organi¬ 
zation  toward  the  liquor  traffic  from  that  day  to  the  present 
hour.  The  discipline  of  the  church  requires  that  the  gen¬ 
eral  rules,  among  which  is  the  rule  in  question,  shall  be  read 
regularly  in  every  Methodist  Society,  so  that  while  there 
have  been  periods  of  lax  enforcement  of  the  rule,  there  has 
been  a  continuous  oral  as  well  as  printed  testimony  of 
Methodism  on  this  subject. 

True  to  her  standard,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  Method¬ 
ism  would  be  active  in  her  efforts  to  advance  genuine  tem¬ 
perance  reform,  and  her  record  has  met  those  expectations. 
From  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States  in  1784,  not  only  has  the  church  never 
lowered  her  standard,  but  the  duty  of  the  individual  to  con¬ 
trol  his  personal  appetite  and  also  his  covetousness  by  abstain¬ 
ing  from  drinking  or  selling  intoxicants  has  been  proclaimed 
by  pulpit  and  press  with  ever-increasing  vigor. 

While  Methodism  has  clearly  recognized  the  inherent 
antagonism  of  the  liquor  traffic  to  her  great  mission,  yet  she 
was  slow  to  recognize  her  responsibility  for  the  existence  of 
the  traffic  itself.  But  the  awful  results  of  the  traffic  — 
waste,  inefficiency,  pauperism,  insanity,  diseases  of  all  kinds, 
disorders,  crime,  wrecked  homes,  cheated  and  orphaned 
children,  hopeless  wives  and  widows,  blighted,  ruined  man¬ 
hood  —  could  not  only  no  longer  be  hidden  or  ignored,  but 
could  not  be  tolerated  as  consistent  with  a  Christian  civiliza¬ 
tion.  Gradually,  surely  there  came  conviction  —  pungent, 
overwhelming  —  that,  first,  the  Christian  citizens  of  the 
nation  are  responsible  for  the  legalized  position  of  the  traffic, 


<>6 


for  whenever  those  Christian  citizens  so  decree,  they  can 
prohibit  the  traffic  by  their  votes;  second,  that  it  is  therefore 
the  duty  of  Christian  men  and  women  in  their  capacity  as 
citizens  to  demand  that  the  liquor  traffic  be  branded  by  law 
as  criminal,  as  the  enemy  of  the  economic,  social  and  moral 
life  of  the  nation,  regardless  of  the  clamor  of  those  who  put 
appetite  and  covetousness  above  the  good  of  their  fellow  men. 
This  gospel  of  the  duty  of  Christian  citizens  to  prohibit  the 
traffic  by  law  has  found  practically  unanimous,  vigorous 
effective  expression  in  every  pulpit  and  every  paper  of 
Methodism,  and  has  been  exceedingly  effective  in  securing 
the  adoption  of  state  and  federal  prohibition  legislation. 

Methodism  has  naturally  furnished  many  of  the  leaders 
of  the  great  temperance  organizations  of  the  United  States. 
Her  women  were  prominent  in  the  work  of  the  “Praying 
Bands,”  which  were  the  forerunners  of  the  Woman’s  Chris¬ 
tian  Temperance  Union,  the  first  president  of  which, 
Frances  E.  Willard,  and  many  of  the  principal  workers  have 
been  Methodists.  Methodism  has  also  furnished  strong  men 
and  liberal  funds  for  the  work  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League  of 
America.  These  two,  the  most  efficient  temperance  organi¬ 
zations  in  the  world,  in  their  labors  for  the  extermination 
of  the  beverage  liquor  traffic,  have  been  given  the  hearty, 
enthusiastic  support  of  the  Annual  and  the  General  Con¬ 
ferences  of  both  the  great  Methodisms. 

In  the  General  and  Annual  Conferences  of  both  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  there  have  been  committees 
on  temperance  for  many  years.  In  1904  the  General  Con¬ 
ference  of  the  M.  E.  Church  constituted  the  Temperance 
Society  of  the  M.  E.  Church  with  headquarters  at  Chicago, 
but  with  no  regular  means  of  support.  4  he  General  Con¬ 
ference  of  1908  asked  all  churches  for  free-will  offerings 
for  support  of  the  temperance  society,  and  in  1910  the  Board 
of  Managers  elected  two  field  secretaries,  Dr.  Clarence 
True  Wilson  and  Dr.  Alfred  Smith;  in  1912  the  head¬ 
quarters  were  moved  to  Topeka,  Kansas;  in  1916  the  name 
was  changed  to  Board  of  Temperance,  Prohibition  and  Pub¬ 
lic  Morals,  and  the  headquarters  moved  to  Washington, 
with  Bishop  W.  F.  McDowell,  Chairman,  and  Dr.  Clarence 
True  Wilson  as  General  Secretary.  In  1918  the  General 
Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  organized  a  per¬ 
manent  commission  on  Temperance  and  Social  Service,  which 
commission  selected  Washington,  D.  C.,  as  its  headquarters 
and  elected  Bishop  James  Cannon,  Jr.,  as  Chairman  and 
Dr.  Daniel  Morton,  Secretary. 

Women  and  Methodism 

By  Belle  H.  Bennett 

FROM  the  little  Epworth  parsonage  in  Lincolnshire,  Eng¬ 
land,  where  the  great  founder  of  Methodism  was  born 

and  reared,  the  spirit  and  influence 
of  a  missionary  mother  have  gone 
out  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

Susannah  Wesley  was  the 
daughter  of  a  non-conformist 
father,  and  though  the  wife  of  a 
clergyman  of  the  church  of  Eng¬ 
land,  and  a  member  of  that  com¬ 
munion  from  her  thirteenth  year, 
she  had  the  blood  of  the  reformer 
in  her  veins. 

She  was  a  woman  of  marked 
mental  ability  and  an  earnest 
student  of  the  word  of  God,  char¬ 
acterized  by  a  deep  consistent  prayer  life.  With  a  large 
family  of  children,  and  a  small  living  she  was  a  conscientious 
mother,  teacher,  and  friend  in  her  own  home ;  yet  she  found 
time  in  the  midst  of  her  many  duties  and  cares  to  gather  the 
poor  and  illiterate  of  her  husband’s  parish  into  her  little 


home  and  minister  to  them  in  holy  things.  Neither  an  ad¬ 
verse  public  opinion  nor  the  disapproval  of  her  scholarly 
husband  could  prevent  this  outpouring  of  her  faith  and  love 
to  the  needy  souls  round  about  her.  Can  we  wonder  that 
John  and  Charles  Wesley,  the  sons  of  such  a  mother,  be¬ 
came  the  founders  and  leaders  of  “The  Holy  Club”  at 
Oxford. 

God  gave  a  rich  heritage  to  world-wide  Christianity 
through  that  chosen  mother  in  the  little  Epworth  manse,  and 
no  church  or  nation  has  received  a  larger  portion  than  the 
Methodism  of  America. 

There  is  a  longing  in  every  soul  sometime,  somewhere, 
to  know  that  God  is  and  that  He  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that 
seek  after  Him.  When  the  great  scriptural  assurance — the 
witness  of  the  Spirit — through  conversion  and  sanctification 
was  made  plain  to  the  newly  formed  societies  of  England, 
by  the  preaching  of  the  Wesleys  and  their  fellow  workers,  a 
new  light  and  a  new  life  came  to  the  Protestant  world. 
Women  heard  the  glad  tidings  with  joy,  and  “proving  God” 
they  entered  into  that  “liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made 
us  free.” 

In  the  testimony  meetings,  the  prayer  and  class  meetings, 
and  even  in  the  chapels  and  other  meeting  houses  on  the 
Sabbath  day,  the  voices  of  women  were  heard  as  they  told 
of  what  God  had  done  for  them,  and  spoke  of  the  ‘‘Joy  of 
the  Lord,”  and  “Peace  that  passeth  all  understanding” 
through  Christ’s  abiding  presence  in  their  hearts. 

The  women  of  the  rapidly  growing  Methodism  were  not 
slow  to  catch  the  heavenly  vision  nor  to  obey  the  divine 
voice.  As  they  taught  their  children  around  the  firesides, 
or  sat  together  in  the  class  meetings,  they  studied  and 
memorized  the  word  of  God,  and  many  of  them  used  it  with 
power  as  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  knew  the  joy  of  bring¬ 
ing  couls  to  Christ,  and  seeing  them  bring  still  others. 

The  hymns  of  Charles  Wesley  and  Isaac  Watts  were  on 
the  lips  of  women  and  children  in  every  Methodist  home 
and  were  a  part  of  the  outspoken  prayer  life,  in  the  pew,  at 
the  family  altar  and  in  the  closet. 

Women  on  the  frontiers  became  missionaries  and  Chris¬ 
tian  teachers  to  the  Indians,  and  the  “Great  Spirit”  found 
in  many  tribes  Methodist  hearts  and  tongues  ready  “To  go 
and  tell.” 

In  the  Southern  states  where  the  African  slave  trade  found 
its  greatest  market,  Methodist  women  taught  and  worked 
and  prayed  with  the  dark  skin  foreigners  in  their  own  homes, 
winning  them  to  Christ. 

As  the  eighteenth  century  drew  to  a  close  the  Church  of 
God  in  all  lands  caught  the  vision  of  nations  that  sat  in 
darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death,  and  the  marching  order 
of  the  risen  Christ,  “Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  nation,”  laid  its  spell  upon  the  hearts  of 
the  Methodist  women  everywhere. 

By  the  middle  of  the  new  century  Women’s  Missionary 
Auxiliaries  had  become  educational  and  financial  forces  in 
the  large  denominations,  and  the  next  twenty-five  years  wit¬ 
nessed  the  organization  of  a  strong  Woman’s  Board  of 
Missions  in  many  of  these. 

Methodist  women  went  out  as  missionaries  to  foreign  lands 
by  scores  and  hundreds.  Schools,  hospitals,  orphanages,  the 
“all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you”  were  gladly 
accepted  as  the  work  to  which  the  Master  called  them.  Today 
their  ranks  are  belting  the  globe.  Millions  of  money  have 
been  raised  to  support  the  work  and  multi-millions  of  mis¬ 
sionary  leaflets  and  tracts  have  been  scattered  broadcast 
throughout  the  church  to  educate  its  membership. 

At  home  the  Deaconesees  order  claimed  hundreds  of  con¬ 
secrated  lives  and  the  hard  places  of  our  own  land,  the  great¬ 
est  mission  field  in  the  world,  have  been  made  to  rejoice  in 
the  love  of  God,  because  of  some  woman’s  love  and  fidelity 
to  Him. 


57 


Americanization  in  the  Methodist  Centenary  Movement 

By  Charles  W .  Blanpied 


Immigrant  Mothers  and  Their  Children 


BECAUSE  of  the  part  foreign-speaking  and  foreign-born 
peoples  must  play  in  the  national  life  of  the  country, 

Americanization,  as  applied  to  the 
church,  may  be  thought  of  as  a 
double  heritage  —  on  the  one  hand 
that  of  national  duty  and  on  the 
other,  that  of  Christian  responsi¬ 
bility. 

In  this  hour  of  reconstruction, 
the  church,  as  well  as  other  social 
agencies,  should  place  her  re¬ 
sources  at  the  disposal  of  America 
—  not  alone  to  evangelize,  but  also 
to  Americanize  all  men  and 
women  unacquainted  with  the 
blessings  of  American  citizenship, 
and  to  strengthen  the  ties  of  allegiance  for  those  who  are 
citizens,  whether  native  or  naturalized. 

It  was  with  this  feeling  of  responsibility  that  Methodism 
—  always  patriotic  and  democratic  —  decided  to  utilize  the 
resources  of  the  church  in  effecting  an  adequate  program 
in  Americanization. 

The  Centenary  movement  made  it  possible  to  meet  this 
responsibility  both  constructively  and  comprehensively. 
What  have  been  the  results?  The  places  where  Methodism 
is  responsible  for  a  definite  program  were  listed  through  the 
survey.  The  kind  of  program  required  to  meet  the  need  in 
these  various  neighborhoods  and  communities  had  been  de¬ 
termined.  The  objects  of  the  program  are: 

1.  The  Pulpit.  To  enlist  the  entire  pulpit  force  of  our 
church  for  the  purpose  of  holding  up  the  standard  of  a 
genuine  Americanism,  demanding  an  intelligent,  understand¬ 
ing  citizenship,  and  calling  upon  men  everywhere  to  lay  aside 
prejudices  and  insist  upon  social  and  economic  justice  for  all 
men  living  under  the  flag. 

2.  Religious  Education.  To  teach  by  means  of  the 
pulpit,  the  Sunday  School  and  week-day  religious  education, 
the  elements  of  brotherhood  and  Christian  love  to  those  for 
whose  spiritual  and  moral  development  Methodism  is  re¬ 
sponsible  —  thus  lending  our  aid  to  the  spiritual  and  moral 
fiber  of  our  Americanism. 

3.  Home  Visitation.  To  enlarge  the  activities  of  our 
women’s  organizations  and  Young  Peoples’  Societies,  that 


they  may  not  only  study,  but  practice  Christian  principles 
by  acting  as  home  visitors  and  teachers  among  those  of  for¬ 
eign  birth,  especially  the  women  who  are  kept  at  home. 

4.  Foreign  Language  Churches.  To  increase  the  present 
staffs  of  our  foreign  language  churches,  so  that  a  more 
definite  social  uplift  program  may  become  a  part  of  the 
work. 

5.  English  Speaking  Churches.  To  strengthen  pastor¬ 
ates  of  English  speaking  churches  in  parishes  where  genuine 
American  leadership  is  needed  for  counteracting  anti-Ameri¬ 
can  propaganda. 

6.  Neighborhood  and  Community  Cooperation.  To 
utilize  our  downtown  churches,  or  groups  of  rural  churches 
where  one  or  more  language  pastors  or  workers  are  em¬ 
ployed,  by  providing  a  director  of  Americanization  work  to 
cooperate  with  the  various  civic  and  social  forces  of  the 
community  in  working  out  a  constructive  program. 

7.  Remodel  Churches  and  Revamp  Programs.  To  re¬ 
model  hundreds  of  our  rural  and  city  church  buildings  now 
barely  functioning  or  entirely  abandoned,  and  make  them 
into  practical  Methodist  Neighborhood  Houses  under  Ameri¬ 
can  leadership,  and  to  install  the  necessary  material  equip¬ 
ment  in  old  structures  and,  where  necessary,  in  new  and 
rented  buildings,  for  club,  class,  forum  and  lecture  work; 
also  clinics,  dispensaries,  nurseries,  kindergarten,  domestic 
and  industrial  arts,  etc. 

8.  English  and  Citizenship.  To  teach  English  and  pro¬ 
vide  a  curriculum  for  training  in  citizenship,  and  cooperate 
where  other  agencies  are  better  equipped  to  do  this  funda¬ 
mental  educational  work.  Where  the  public  schools  are 
conducting  satisfactory  English  and  citizenship  classes,  the 
church  will  put  on  a  program  for  conserving  the  results 
among  her  own  constituency. 

9.  Ports  of  Entry.  To  cooperate  with  all  agencies  whose 
aim  is  to  drive  out  quackery  and  to  prevent  the  victimizing 
of  newly  arriving  and  unsettled  immigrant  peoples. 

10.  Training  of  Leadership.  To  provide  for  the  train¬ 
ing  of  the  necessary  leadership,  not  only  by  means  of  scholar¬ 
ships  for  students  taking  work  in  universities  and  seminaries, 
but  also  for  graduate  field  fellowship  that  will  give  a  year’s 
study  and  experience  in  emigrant  countries,  or  in  foreign¬ 
speaking  fields  in  America.  There  will  also  be  a  program 
of  short  time  summer  institutes  for  raising  the  standard  of 
our  present  leadership. 


Italian  Religious  Procession  andjEllis  Island  Groups 


59 


Methodism  and  City  Problems 

By  M.  P.  Burns 

THE  great  challenge  of  God,  at  this  hour,  to  American 
Christianity,  is  the  moral  uplift  and  security  of  the 
cities.  The  cities  dominate  the 
financial,  industrial  and  commer¬ 
cial  life  of  the  nation.  The  city  is 
where  the  gerat  political  battle  be¬ 
gins,  rages  and  ends.  In  the  city 
in  where  all  the  combined  forces 
of  sin  are  assembled  in  solid  file  for 
the  purpose  of  uprooting  and  over¬ 
throwing  Christian  civilization. 
The  fact  is  the  city  is  the  real 
heart  of  the  republic.  Lose  the 
city  and  you  lose  the  state;  lose 
the  state  and  you  ultimately  wreck 
the  hope  of  the  world. 

Methodism  has  never  been  a  city  church.  She  has  never 
understood  the  psychology  of  the  city  mind.  She  has  never, 
up  to  this  moment,  seriously  and  intelligently  undertaken 
the  moral  solution  of  the  city  problem.  However,  the  task 
is  now  squarely  before  her  and  she  must  discover  a  solution. 
To  evade  this  responsibility  would  be  rank  cowardict.  "I  o 
assume  it  and  go  forward  is  divine.  I  herefore  she  must 
assume,  and  go  to  it. 

To  accomplish  this  task  we  need  a  new  church  possessed 
completely  with  a  passion  for  sacrificial  service.  A  self- 
forgetting,  self-abandoning  institution  in  which  the  spirit 
of  the  Man  of  Galilee  is  dominant.  How  often  by  the  dog¬ 
mas  of  men  Christ,  in  the  person  of  some  of  His  children, 
is  excluded  from  what  proposes  to  be  His  church.  This 
is  the  God-born  philosophy,  “Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it 
unto  me.”  The  service  church  is  the  demand  of  the  hour. 
It  is  the  only  church  bearing  the  divine  imprint.  We  also 
need  a  great  new  message  and  program  of  social  justice,  and 
community  uplift  and  welfare.  This  message  and  program 
must  be  saturated  wholly  with  the  spirit  and  passion  of 
infinite  love  and  godlike  compassion.  God  so  loved  that  He 
gave  H  is  all  to  win.  Is  the  church  of  the  hour  ready  to 
follow  in  His  footsteps?  If  so,  the  complete  reconstruction 
of  the  life  of  the  nation  is  already  in  sight ;  if  not,  then  our 
efforts  are  already  doomed  to  unqualified  and  inglorious 
defeat. 

The  stewardship  drive  in  our  denomination  has  been  suc¬ 
cessful.  The  church  is  on  her  knees;  the  money  is  pouring 
into  the  treasury;  our  tremendous  need  now  is  life,  leader¬ 
ship,  judgment,  common  sense  and  a  great  consuming  passion 
for  God  appointed  brotherhood.  This  penticost  is  forth¬ 
coming;  it  is  now  at  hand;  the  touch  and  thrill  of  the  in¬ 
finite  is  being  felt;  God  has  come  and  is  leading  the  church. 

The  program  of  the  Centenary  as  related  to  city  work 
declares  for  the  conquest  and  possession  of  the  down  town, 
congested  and  corrupted  districts,  the  polyglot,  foreign, 
industrial,  suburban  and  residential  sections.  In  fact 
the  program  of  the  Church  calls  for  the  complete 
social,  civic,  political,  industrial,  economic,  moral  and 
spiritual  redemption  and  uplift  of  city  life.  This  is  truly 
the  call  of  God.  This  is  the  call  of  the  Church.  The 
general  call  is,  “Onward  Christian  soldier,  marching  as  to 
war”;  war  to  the  conclusion;  war  to  the  death  of  wrong; 
war  to  the  complete  annihilation  of  crime ;  war  to  the 
thorough  elimination  of  sin ;  war  to  the  breaking  down  of 
satan’s  entanglements;  war  to  the  unconditional  surrender 
of  the  powers  of  darkness;  war  to  the  perfect  conquest  of 
equity,  truth,  justice  and  the  all  consuming  love  of  the  Son 
of  righteousness. 


Methodism  and  Rural  Problems 

By  Paul  C.  Vogt 

THE  popular  attitude  toward  life  in  the  open  country 
which  leads  the  country  minister  to  seek  “promotion”  to 

the  city  pulpit ;  the  country  boy  and 
girl  to  go  to  the  city  to  enter 
business  or  professional  life ;  the 
employment  agencies  to  report 
abundance  of  labor  in  cities  and  a 
scarcity  on  the  farms ;  and  even 
the  farmer  to  “retire”  to  the  vil¬ 
lage  or  the  city,  is  abundant  evi¬ 
dence  that  there  are  real  country 
problems.  Realization  of  the  ex¬ 
istence  of  these  problems,  to¬ 
gether  with  the  failure  to  under¬ 
stand  them  has  led  people  to  get 
away  from  them  by  moving  to 
urban  centers  instead  of  attempting  to  remedy  existing 
conditions. 

Although  farmers  have  apparently  been  prosperous  during 
the  past  few  years,  the  great  bulk  of  wealth  is  still  owned 
by  city  people,  and  the  income  from  it  is  enjoyed  by  them. 
So  long  as  urban,  or  suburban  residents  can  afford  to  pay 
more  for  services  rendered  and  can  have  more  commodious 
and  better  equipped  buildings  than  country  or  village  people, 
just  so  long  will  the  pull  to  the  city  continue  for  all  but  truly 
country-minded  or  truly  missionary  leaders.  So  long  as  city 
homes  can  have  better  improvements;  city  children  have 
better  educational  facilities;  city  families  have  better  medi¬ 
cal  attendance  and  hospital  facilities;  and  the  energetic  young 
people  from  the  farms  have  larger  opportunities  for  per¬ 
sonal  advancement,  economically,  socially  and  politically; 
just  so  long  will  there  exist  real  rural  problems  and  a  situa¬ 
tion  dangerous  to  the  welfare  of  the  nation. 

In  certain  sections,  survivals  of  unfortunate  race  rela¬ 
tionships  still  present  serious  rural  problems.  These  dan¬ 
gerous  conditions  will  continue  until  an  awakened  social 
conscience  compels  definite  action  looking  to  racial  improve¬ 
ment  and  adjustment  which  will  eliminate  present  sources 
of  conflict  and  which  will  make  possible  the  fullest  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  Christian  spirit  in  American  life. 

In  other  sections,  the  increase  of  the  propertyless  classes 
in  the  country  as  exemplified  by  the  tenant  and  the  farm 
laborer  groups  is  bringing  the  unfortunate  class  conscious¬ 
ness  into  the  country  which  has  been  such  a  serious  problem 
in  industrial  centers.  Unless  the  church  has  a  program  of 
economic  justice  for  all  rural  folk,  the  time  will  come  shortly 
when  the  church  will  be  despised  by  a  large  part  of  the 
rural  population. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  because  of  its  large 
following  in  rural  America  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  holds 
a  strategic  position  in  the  period  of  reconstruction,  and  the 
Centenary  movement  could  not  have  come  at  a  more  oppor¬ 
tune  time  to  enable  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  to 
render  this  service.  It  can  take  the  lead  in  interchurch 
adjustments  and  can  set  the  example  of  denominational 
sacrifice  for  the  larger  interests  of  the  kingdom.  It  can, 
through  the  combined  leadership  of  its  district  superintend¬ 
ents,  bishops,  and  missionary  boards,  formulate  a  national 
program  for  dealing  effectively  with  economic  problems, 
illiteracy,  health,  recreational  and  other  conditions.  And 
above  all,  it  can  so  dignify  and  spiritualize  rural  life  that 
it  will  continue  to  be  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  the  safeguard 
of  morals,  the  conservator  of  loyalty  to  national  ideals,  and 
the  foundation  of  the  spirit  of  true  democracy  and  of  the 
recognition  of  men  and  women  for  their  personal  worth 
free  from  the  trammels  of  wealth  distinctions  or  of  position. 

Methodism  will  be  tested  in  the  rural  fields  because  of 
her  largely  increased  resources  for  service. 


60 


Tenement  District  In  Lower  New  York 


61 


The  Methodist  Press 

By  James  R.  Joy 

OHN  WESLEY  taught  the  people  called  Methodists 
the  use  of  printer’s  ink  at  the  very  start.  He  opened  a 

Book  Room  in  the  Foundery,  his 
first  preaching  house  in  London, 
in  1739,  and  was  for  years  a  whole 
Methodist  Book  Concern  in  him¬ 
self,  writing,  editing  and  publish¬ 
ing  books,  hymnals  and  periodicals, 
and  turning  a  large  annual  profit 
into  the  charitable  and  extension 
funds  of  the  Methodist  societies. 
His  example  has  been  followed  by 
Methodists  in  every  part  of  the 
world.  Wherever  the  Methodist 
travel  he  will  find  a  Methodist 
publication  house  or  Book  Room 
and  a  Methodist  newspaper  which  is  likely  to  be  called  “The 
Christian  Advocate.” 

The  Methodist  Book  Concern  was  founded  in  May,  1789, 
by  the  Conference  in  Wesley  Chapel,  John  Street,  New 
York,  which  appointed  the  Rev.  John  Dickins  as  Book 
Steward.  He  set  up  his  shop  at  43  Fourth  street,  in  Phila¬ 
delphia,  August  17,  1789,  on  $600  capital  which  he  ad¬ 
vanced.  The  first  publication  was  Wesley’s  abbreviated 
edition  of  Thomas  A.  Kempis’  “Imitation  of  Christ.”  Ten 
years  later  the  Rev.  Ezekiel  Cooper  succeeded  him.  In 
1804  the  business  was  removed  to  New  York,  where  it  has 
continued  ever  since.  It  is  the  oldest  publishing  house  in  the 
New  World  and  one  of  the  largest.  In  1820  a  branch  was 
established  in  Cincinnati  by  the  Rev.  Martin  Ruter,  which 
has  expanded  with  the  growth  of  the  imperial  west.  In 
1919  the  Methodist  Book  Concern  owned  and  operated 
extensive  printing  plants  and  binderies  at  New  York,  Cin¬ 
cinnati  and  Chicago,  with  offices  and  stores  in  Pittsburg, 
Kansas  City  and  San  Francisco,  and  depositories  in  Boston, 
Detroit  and  New  Orleans.  In  the  last  fiscal  year  its  total 
sales  were  $3,327,809,  and  the  profits  $278,754.  The  total 
assets  were  $6,848,468.  The  profits  are  distributed  to  the 
Annual  Conferences  for  the  relief  of  retired  preachers. 
About  $1,000,000  was  thus  appropriated  in  the  last  qua- 
drennium.  The  business  is  owned  by  the  General  Confer¬ 
ence,  which  elects  the  three  publishing  agents.  These  are 
Henry  C.  Jennings,  Chicago;  Edwin  R.  Graham,  New 
York;  and  John  H.  Race,  Cincinnati. 

The  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  in  1846,  provided  for  a  book  agency  only 
with  depositories  at  Louisville,  Kentucky;  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  and  Richmond,  Virginia;  and  John  Early  was 
appointed  agent.  In  1854  when  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  received  its  share  of  the  assets  of  the 
Methodist  Book  Concern  due  in  1844,  when  Episcopal 
Methodism  was  divided,  the  agency  was  discontinued  and 
plans  for  a  publishing  house  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  were 
adopted  by  the  General  Conference,  and  Rev.  E.  Stevenson 
and  Rev.  F.  A.  Owen  were  the  first  publishing  agents.  In 
August,  1855,  the  publishing  house  had  assets  amounting  to 
$413,238.83.  In  1918-19  its  assets  were  $1,779,325.70; 
the  total  sales  for  the  year  ending  February  28,  1919,  were 
$1,210,916.54.  Since  1891  the  gross  sales  have  been  $17,- 
179,092.  The  present  publishing  agents  are  Mr.  D.  M. 
Smith  and  Rev.  A.  J.  Lamar,  D.  D. 

1  he  first  weekly  paper  authorized  by  the  General  Con¬ 
ference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  “The 
Christian  Advocate,”  published  at  New  York  since  Septem¬ 
ber  9,  1826.  1  he  Wesleyan  Journal,  published  at  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  antedated  the  Christian  Advocate.  The 
two  papers  were  consolidated  in  1827  under  the  name  “The 
Christian  Advocate  and  Journal.”  It  was  followed  by  the 
Western  Christian  Advocate  (Cincinnati,  1834);  Der 
Christliche  Apologete  (Cincinnati,  1839);  the  Pittsburgh 


Christian  Advocate  (1840);  Northwestern  Christian  Advo¬ 
cate  (Chicago,  1852)  ;  Central  Christian  Advocate  (St. 
Louis  and  now  Kansas  City,  1856)  ;  California  Christian 
Advocate  (San  Francisco,  1852);  Pacific  Christian  Advo¬ 
cate  (Portland,  1856)  ;  Methodist  Advocate-Journal 
(Athens,  Tenn.),  and  Southwestern  Christian  Advocate 
(New  Orleans).  Semi-official  and  Conference  papers  of 
wide  influence  are  maintained  in  New  England  (Zion’s 
Herald,  Boston)  ;  Michigan  (Michigan  Christian  Advocate, 
Detroit);  Maryland,  (The  Methodist,  Baltimore),  and 
other  localities. 

For  over  one  hundred  years  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  maintained  The  Methodist  Review,  New  York, 
now  published  bi-monthly.  It  also  issues  an  ever  increasing 
list  of  Sunday  School  periodicals,  with  an  aggregate  circula¬ 
tion  of  many  millions. 

The  Epworth  Herald  (Chicago),  is  the  organ  of  the 
Epworth  League.  The  Boards  of  Home  and  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  unite  in  issuing  World  Outlook,  the  most  attractive 
missionary  periodical  in  the  world,  and  each  of  the  Woman’s 
Missionary  Societies  has  its  own  magazine,  The  Friend  and 
Woman’s  Home  Missions. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  has  an  influen¬ 
tial  list  of  weekly  papers,  of  which  the  Christian  Advocate 
(Nashville),  is  the  only  one  owned  by  the  General  Con¬ 
ference.  This  paper  was  established  at  Nashville,  Tenn., 
in  1834.  The  seventeen  others  are  issued  under  the  patron¬ 
age  of  individual  conferences  and  groups  of  conferences. 
Among  them  are  St.  Louis  Christian  Advocate ;  Wesleyan 
Christian  Advocate,  (Atlanta)  ;  New  Orleans  Christian 
Advocate;  Florida  Christian  Advocate,  (Lakeland,  Flor¬ 
ida)  ;  Arkansas  Methodist,  (Little  Rock)  ;  Southern  Chris- 
tion  Advocate,  (Columbia,  South  Carolina)  ;  Baltimore 
Southern  Methodist;  Richmond  Christian  Advocate; 
North  Carolina  Christian  Advocate,  (Greensboro,  North 
Carolina)  ;  Pacific  Methodist  Advocate,  (San  Francisco)  ; 
Midland  Methodist  Advocate,  (Nashville,  Tennessee)  ;  Cen¬ 
tral  Methodist,  (Lexington,  Kentucky)  ;  Advocate-Herald, 
(Sutton,  West  Virginia)  ;  Alabama  Christian  Advocate, 
(Birmingham,  Alabama)  ;  Texas  Christian  Advocate,  (Dal¬ 
las,  Texas)  ;  Der  Missions-freund,  (San  Antonio,  Texas). 
The  Methodist  Quarterly  Review  (Nashville)  is  a  magazine 
of  theology  and  general  culture.  The  Missionary  Voice  is 
the  official  organ  of  the  Woman’s  Missionary  Council,  the 
Epworth  Era  serves  the  Epworth  League,  and  the  Sunday 
School  periodicals  are  issued  in  great  variety. 


Publicity  for  the  Kingdom 

By  Ralph  Welles  Keeler 

THE  church  has  at  last  awakened  to  its  opportunity  to 
send  its  message  to  the  multitudes  who  know  of  its 

mission  only  by  hearsay.  Accept¬ 
ing  the  challenge  of  the  business 
world  it  is  using  every  possible 
means  to  bring  its  claims  and  bless¬ 
ings  to  the  attention  of  those  who 
will  receive  such  information  only 
when  it  comes  to  them  by  the  silent 
messenger  of  the  printed  page. 

The  publicity  campaign  for  the 
Centenary  of  Methodist  Missions 
has  demonstrated  fully  that  people 
are  eager  for  the  news  of  the 
kingdom  when  brought  to  them 
in  the  form  of  live,  human  stories 
related  to  the  everyday,  commonplace  activities  of  life.  The 
newspapers  of  the  country  are  anxious  for  such  news.  But 
heretofore  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  Method¬ 
ist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  have  had  no  agency  which 
was  willing  or  able  to  perform  the  service  of  furnishing  to 
the  world  this  information  which  often  out-thrills  the  stories 
whi  ch  usually  carry  the  two-inch  headlines  in  the  daily  press. 


62 


Organized  as  is  the  office  of  a  great  newspaper,  the  Pub¬ 
licity  Department  of  the  Centenary  has  sent  the  message  of 
the  needs  of  mankind,  of  the  plans  made  for  meeting  them 
and  of  inspiration  for  securing  the  consecration  and  interest 
essential  for  success  the  world  around.  Newspaper  stories, 
magazine  articles,  page  after  page  in  the  church  press,  ad¬ 
vertisements,  books,  pamphlets,  leaflets  —  there  is  no  form 
of  printed  instruction  and  appeal  that  has  been  neglected. 
It  has  meant  the  realization  of  the  dreams  of  the  pioneers 
in  Church  publicity. 

Publicity  is  primarily  the  bringing  out  into  the  sight  of 
all  men  the  facts  as  they  are.  It  strives  for  the  interest  of 
folks  in  the  cause  for  which  it  speaks.  The  purpose  of  this 
in  the  case  of  the  church  is  manifold.  It  brings  to  the  at¬ 
tention  of  those  already  related  to  the  church  a  definite 
knowledge  of  the  magnitude  of  the  task  of  the  church.  It 
furnishes  material  for  a  broader  vision  of  the  process  of 
spreading  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  and  arouses  an  in¬ 
terest  in  the  intelligent  investment  of  its  resources. 

To  those  whose  conception  of  the  church  is  that  of  an 
organization  only  slightly  related  to  the  affairs  of  this  life, 
it  serves  to  break  down  prejudice,  to  create  interest  and  to 
develop  practical  participation  in  the  program  presented. 

A  new  day  is  with  us.  If  the  kingdom  of  God  is  to  be 
established  on  the  earth,  the  news  of  the  kingdom’s  growth 
must  be  a  part  of  the  news  of  the  world.  The  daring  ad¬ 
venture  of  launching  a  celebration  of  the  Centenary  of 
Methodist  Missions  such  as  is  now  being  observed  through¬ 
out  American  Methodism  has  thrown  down  a  challenge  to 
the  church  itself  henceforth  to  consider  the  news  of  its 
affairs  in  the  light  of  their  real  value  and  to  let  it  be  known 
to  all  the  world. 


The  Publications  of  American 

Methodism 


By  David  B.  Downey 

THE  publications  of  the  Book  Concern  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal 

Church,  South,  are  divided  nat¬ 
urally  into  three  classes  —  Sunday 
School  Lessons  and  Helps,  Peri¬ 
odicals  and  Books.  Quite  natur¬ 
ally  also  these  classes  shade  into 
each  other,  for  much  Sunday 
School  literature  is  also  periodical, 
and  these  days  of  graded  lessons 
books  are  now  in  the  Sunday 
School  curriculum. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  the 
publishing  departments  of  these 
two  Methodisms  there  is  already 
a  good  deal  of  unification  of  a  very 
practical  sort.  The  Sunday  School  editors  are  in  constant 


communication  and  a  good  deal  of  the  literature  is  prepared 
and  published  jointly.  Also  joint  imprints  and  the  recipro¬ 
cal  taking  of  imprint  editions  are  not  infrequent  occurrences. 
One  cannot  help  thinking  that  if  more  attention  had  been 
given  in  the  past  to  practical  phases  of  unification  and  less 
to  the  theoretical  and  historical  greater  progress  toward  * 
real  oneness  would  have  been  made.  It  is  easier  to  unify 
from  the  bottom  up  than  from  the  top  down. 

Methodism  has  been  in  the  business  of  printing  and  pub¬ 
lishing  good  literature  for  the  last  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years.  It  began  to  publish  in  1789,  just  thirty  years  prior 
to  the  beginning  of  its  distinctive  missionary  activity.  It  is 
utterly  impossible  even  to  outline  its  contribution  to  the 
religious  life  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Some  of  its  earliest 
publications  were  naturally  polemic  and  defensive.  Method¬ 
ism  was  on  trial.  Its  message  was  opposed  and  misinter¬ 
preted,  and  its  preachers  were  often  bitterly  denounced. 
H  ence  books  on  doctrine,  discipline,  history,  were  essential. 
From  the  beginning  Methodism,  both  in  England  and 
America,  stressed  the  doctrine  of  Christian  experience. 
Leaflets,  booklets  and  more  formal  volumes,  dealing  with  the 
various  phases  of  Christian  duty  and  experience,  were  in 
great  demand,  and  the  publishing  houses  not  only  met  the 
demand  but  enlarged  it  by  the  high  quality  of  their 
publications. 

In  time  Methodism  became  an  integral  part  of  the  re¬ 
ligious  life  of  the  nation  and  its  publications  changed  ac¬ 
cordingly.  There  was  no  need  of  defending  what  no  one 
opposed.  It  was  now  the  time  to  write  history  and  theology 
from  the  point  of  Methodist  experience  and  life.  The 
noble  volumes  that  bear  the  imprint  of  our  publishing 
houses  North  and  South  bear  witness  at  once  to  the  doc¬ 
trinal  soundness  of  Methodist  historians  and  theologians. 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  so  virile  and  practical  a  type 
of  Christianity  as  Methodism  would  be  interested  in  all 
matters  of  moral  reform,  and  that  being  interested  in  all 
matters  of  moral  reform,  and  that  being  interested  its  writers 
would  print  and  publish.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to 
find  a  vast  range  of  Methodist  literature  dealing  with  every 
conceivable  phase  of  social,  civic  and  industrial  readjust¬ 
ment.  Many  evil  doers  have  had  good  cause  to  remember 
that  Methodism  is  in  truth  “Christianity  in  earnest”  and  that 
as  regards  moral  betterment  it  still  practices  its  ancient 
motto,  “all  at  it  and  always  at  it.” 

If  the  future  of  Methodist  publications  may  be  judged 
by  the  past  it  can  be  confidently  predicted  that  the  presses 
of  Methodism  may  be  counted  upon  to  rush  to  the  limit 
any  program  that  Methodism  stands  for.  Writers  in  the 
varied  fields  of  theology,  history,  sociology,  economics,  belle 
lettres  and  fiction  may  be  sure  of  a  fit  channel  for  their 
productions  provided  they  meet  the  high  ethical  and  literary 
standards  of  our  publishing  houses. 


One  Hundred  Years  of  American  Methodism 


1918 

Number  of  Annual  Conferences.  .  .  .  207 

Number  of  effective  ministers.  .  .  .  21,245 

Number  of  members .  6,039,330 

Number  of  baptisms .  315,498 

Number  of  Sunday  Schools .  52,24 7 

Number  of  church  buildings....  47,564 

Net  value  church  and  parsonage  prop¬ 
erty  .  325,423,850 

Ministerial  support  .  27,312,094 

^Disciplinary  benevolences  .  8,471,422 

*  Including  Special  Gifts,  etc. 


t  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South  reports  separately  after  1844. 


1894 

1869 

f  1844 

1819 

170 

IOO 

33 

1 1 

17,072 

10,070 

4,479 

812 

3.755. 126 

1,683,307 

',139,587 

240,924 

345.24I 

l62,97I 

. 

43,432 

l6,29I 

38.495 

|  I  2,048 

. 

140,344,702 

1 54, 1  >5,297 

61,669 

. 

13,307,65! 

1 1 29,777 

2,599,061 

958,289 

112,524 

tNo  available  statistics  for  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 


68 


Our  Bible  Society 

By  W.  I.  Haven 


METHODISM  has  always  believed  in  the  Bible.  Wes¬ 
ley  was,  first  of  all,  a  student  of  the  Scriptures.  The 
origin  of  Bible  Societies  can  be 
traced  directly  to  the  Wesleyan 
movement.  The  early  itinerant 
preachers  in  America  took  Bibles 
with  them  in  their  saddle  bags ; 
they  were  among  the  earliest  of 
colporteurs.  Asbury  in  his  declin¬ 
ing  years,  when  he  went  about 
with  the  Scriptures,  said,  “Now  I 
know  I  am  sowing  good  seed.” 

The  Methodist  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety,  when  it  started  in  1819,  was 
a  missionary  and  Bible  society.  It 
continued  so  until  1836  when  it 
dropped  the  latter  part  of  its  name  and  placed  the  American 
Bible  Society,  in  which  all  the  churches  were  interested,  on 
its  official  list  of  benevolences.  This  was  an  early  tribute 
to  the  wisdom  of  the  churches  working  together  in  matters 
that  were  common  to  them  all. 

Since  1836,  for  over  three-quarters  of  a  century,  Method¬ 
ism  has  borne  its  share  in  the  far-reaching  work  of  the  so¬ 
ciety.  It  has  contributed  translators.  Its  presses  have  been 
used  in  printing  the  Scriptures.  It  has  had  leadership  in  the 
councils  of  the  society,  on  its  Board  of  Managers,  in  its  pres¬ 
idency  and  its  vice-presidency,  and  in  the  secretarial  offices. 
A  list  of  Methodist  preachers  too  numerous  to  mention  have 
been  agents  or  secretaries  of  the  auxiliaries  of  the  American 
Bible  Society  in  the  United  States  and  have  had  charge  of 
its  agencies  at  home  and  abroad.  The  veteran  foreign  sec¬ 
retaries  of  the  society  at  the  present  time  are  Rev.  Francis  G. 
Penzotti  of  the  Argentine — a  name  beloved  and  honored  all 
over  South  America;  the  Rev.  Dr.  H.  C.  Tucker  of  Brazil 
— than  whom,  perhaps,  no  one  stands  out  more  conspicuously 
in  the  missionary  forces  of  that  country ;  the 
Rev.  John  R.  Hykes  of  China — one  of  the 
moulding  forces  of  the  nation,  respected 
and  honored  by  princes  and  presidents;  not 
to  mention  others  like  McLaughlin  of  the 
Philippines,  Beck  of  Korea,  Schwartz  of 
Japan,  or  Wragg,  Kirkbride,  Ragatz,  Mell, 

Morgan,  and  Parkin  at  home. 

Methodist  scholars  have  contributed  to 
the  versions  of  the  society.  The  Sheetswa 
and  Tonga  Bibles  in  East  Africa  were 
translated  by  Dr.  E.  H.  Richards.  Dr. 

Spencer  Lewis  is  one  of  the  translators  and 
revisers  of  the  Mandarin  Bible  of  China, 
and  Dr.  Hykes  also.  The  Hinghua  Col¬ 
loquial  was  translated  by  Dr.  W.  N.  Brew¬ 
ster;  the  Shanghai  Colloquial  by  Dr.  Y.  J. 

Allen  and  Dr.  A.  P.  Parker;  the  Fuchow 
Colloqulai  by  Dr.  C.  C.  Baldwin.  The 
Japanese  version  owes  much  to  the  work  of 
Dr.  R.  S.  McLay  and  Dr.  R.  C.  S.  Davison. 

Dr.  H.  S.  Appenzeller,  who  met  his  death 
by  drowning  on  his  way  to  attend  a  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  Translation  Committee,  Dr.  W. 

B.  Scranton,  and  Dr.  G.  H.  Jones  who  has 
just  left  us  were  deeply  interested  in  the 
Korean  Scriptures.  Long  in  Bulgaria, 

Goodrich  in  the  Philippines,  Baez  of  Mex¬ 
ico  and  Dress  of  South  America  belong  on 
this  roll.  These  are  Methodist  names  that 
must  not  be  forgotten  in  the  fascinating 
story  of  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures 
carried  forward  under  the  auspices  of  the 
American  Bible  Society. 


Methodist  missions  everywhere  have  been  quick  to  assist 
in  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures.  Dr.  F.  D.  Gamewell  of 
China  said  that  when  he  first  went  to  the  field  he  never 
thought  of  going  out  on  a  missionary  journey  without  mak¬ 
ing  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  one  of  his  chief  objects. 
According  to  the  testimony  of  Dr.  J.  W.  Butler,  almost 
every  preaching  station  occupied  by  Methodism  in  Mexico 
was  opened  by  Bible  colporteurs.  Innumerable  have  been 
the  Methodist  colporateurs  of  lowly  station  who  have  gone 
out  to  prepare  the  highway  of  the  Lord. 

Methodism  and  the  Bible  Society  are  inseparably  inter¬ 
woven. 


Mandarin 

Revision 

Committee 


64 


Views  in  and  about  Columbus 


6S 


Crowds — Labor,  Finance,  Sport,  Religion 


WORKERS  DEMANDING  BETTER  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS. 


baseball“fans” 

AT  GREAT  GAME  OF  SEASON. 


NATIVES  SEEKING  CLEANSING  FROM  SIN  IN  GANGES  DIVER. 


H  ow  the  Crowds  Are  To  Be  Reached 


METHODISM  AN  EVANGELISTIC  MOVEMENT 

By  IV .  W .  Pinson 

HUMANELY  speaking  Methodism  is  a  historic  acci¬ 
dent.  It  is  the  product  of  one  of  those  sublime  in¬ 
directions  of  history  by  which  pro¬ 
vidence  rebukes  our  human  pride. 
Bishop  Quayle  has  said  that  “Col¬ 
umbus  was  seeking  a  direct  route 
to  India  when  he  stubbed  his  toe 
against  America.”  John  Wesley 
was  seeking  a  direct  and  efficient 
wa>  for  saving  men  when  he 
stumbled  on  the  Methodist  Church. 
It  was  the  last  thing  he  ever  in¬ 
tended  and  about  the  last  thing  he 
ever  consented  to.  He  was  a  born 
sacerdotalist  bue  he  was  born  again 
as  an  evangelist.  The  passion  for 
evangelism  prevailed  against  the  prejudices  of  the  church 
man,  and  turned  a  brilliant  ecclesiastic  into  a  flaming  apostle. 

Woodrow  Wilson  has  said :  “The  eighteenth  century 
cries  out  for  deliverance  and  light  and  God  prepared  this 
man  to  show  again  the  might  and  blessing  of  His  salvation.” 
So  well  did  he  and  his  co-workers  fulfill  this  mission  that 
McCaulay  ridiculed  a  history  of  George  III  that  left  out 
the  rise  of  Methodism  and  Greene,  the  historian,  declared 
the  Wesleyan  revival  saved  England  from  the  horrors  of 
another  French  revolution. 

Methodism  was  not  a  protest,  it  was  a  passion.  It  was 
not  a  reformation,  it  was  a  revival.  It  was  not  a  schism,  it 
was  a  search  for  the  sheep  in  the  wilderness.  Unlike  the 
other  great  branches  of  the  Protestant  church,  Methodism 
stood  for  no  negations  —  neither  political,  ecclesiastical  nor 
doctrinal.  It  grew  out  of  the  fundamental  affirmation  of  the 
evangelistic  message  and  method.  It  was  not  thought  out, 
it  was  wrought  out.  Unconsciously  Wesley  and  his  co¬ 
workers  were  obeying  the  purpose  of  an  all-wise  providence, 
and  fashioning  the  most  fitting  machine  that  could  be  de¬ 
vised  for  carrying  the  saving  gospel  to  the  neglected  areas 
of  the  earth  and  through  the  dust  and  tumult  of  a  great 
revival  one  can  see  the  outlines  of  a  great  church  emerging 
as  it  was  needed  as  an  instrument. 

The  historian  can  trace  every  step  of  the  evolution  of 
Methodism  by  the  ashes  of  its  evangelical  altar  fires.  Its 
bishops  are  the  lineal  descendants  of  Asbury  “the  prophets 
of  the  long  road”;  its  gorgeous  temples  are  the  children  of 
brush  arbors;  its  pulpits  are  rooted  in  the  hillsides  of  old 
England  and  its  vast  multitude  of  sons  are  brothers  to  the 
begrimed  colliers  of  Kingswood  and  the  humble  folk  of 
Smithfield  Commons.  The  Methodists  went  to  the  fields 
only  when  they  could  not  reach  the  folks  in  the  churches. 
They  accepted  lay  preaching  only  because  it  was  efficient, 
and  exchanged  the  arm-chair  of  the  parson  for  the  saddle  of 
the  itinerant  only  because  the  arm-chair  did  not  get  them  to 
the  people. 

It  was  this  that  sent  the  Methodists  to  America,  that  kept 
them  on  the  trail  of  the  pioneer,  and  held  them  steady  to 
their  task  through  the  Revolution  when  others  fled  from  the 
field.  It  was  this  that  divided  the  church  in  twain  in  1844, 
that  they  might  continue  to  carry  the  gospel  unhindered  to 
the  slave-holder  and  the  slave  in  the  South,  and  also  to  the 
abolitionist  of  New  England.  It  is  this  that  will  some  sweet 
day  bring  them  to  be  one  again  —  not  the  ambition  for  a 
great  ecclesiastical  organization,  but  that  they  may  be  more 
powerful  and  swiftly  carry  the  cross  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
The  only  fires  hot  enough  for  the  re-welding  of  Methodism 
are  the  same  fires  in  which  it  was  originally  forged. 

Just  now  God  and  a  stricken  world  are  calling  Methodism 
to  the  reassessment  and  reassertion  of  her  true  mission.  It 


would  be  a  ghastly  mockery  to  offer  fine-spun  theological 
formulas  or  the  “flat  fluency”  of  dogmas  or  the  gorgeous 
ritual  and  costly  buildings  of  a  great  ecclesiasticism  to  the 
stricken  and  bleeding  children  of  men.  Now  as  in  the 
eighteenth  century  the  world  cries  out  for  light  and  salva¬ 
tion  and  God  is  trying  again  to  answer  through  Methodism. 
Not  alone,  but  with  other  evangelical  bodies,  she  must  throw 
her  forces  into  the  rescue  with  the  fervor  and  fire  that  will 
vindicate  her  heritage  and  justify  her  name. 

If  a  handful  of  men  in  the  eighteenth  century  could  start 
a  movement  that  in  a  hundred  and  seventy  years  could  set  a 
river  of  joy  singing  round  the  world,  what  may  not  the 
Methodism  of  America  do  under  the  same  spirit  and  moved 
by  the  same  motive  in  this  great  plastic  hour?  Let  him 
answer  who  can.  The  answer  will  be  the  measure  of  our 
Centenary  responsibility. 

EVANGELISM  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  THE 
CENTENARY  MOVEMENT 
By  George  B.  Dean 

THE  great  drive  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches 
which  culminates  in  the  celebration  of  American 
Methodist  Missions  at  Columbus 
is  more  than  a  striving  for  a  great 
financial  goal.  Evangelism,  the 
larger  mission  of  the  Church  has 
been  the  dominating  motive  from 
the  beginning,  and  now  comes  to 
the  front  in  the  plans  of  Metho¬ 
dism’s  leaders  for  a  great  nation¬ 
wide  evangelistic  campaign  begin¬ 
ning  in  the  fall  of  1919. 

Nor  has  evangelism  been  left 
out  in  the  work  already  done  in 
acquainting  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  with  the  huge  obli¬ 
gations  which  they  must  meet  and  the  problems  which  they 
must  help  solve  both  in  the  United  States  and  in  every  land 
the  earth  around.  In  the  many  plans  which  have  been  used 
to  stir  the  church  to  its  responsibility,  none  has  received 
more  prayer  and  consideration  than  the  winning  of  church 
membership  to  complete  consecration  to  Jesus  Christ  and 
their  guidance  in  going  forth  in  their  own  communities  to 
lead  others  into  that  same  fellowship. 

Evangelism  has  brought  to  them  a  permanent  task.  Pas¬ 
tors  are  being  urged  to  meet  the  new  points  of  contact. 
Laymen  are  being  trained  for  practical  evangelistic  effort. 
The  upheaval  in  our  economic  life  forces  an  interpretation 
and  application  of  the  gospel  which  demonstrates  the  justice 
of  its  appeal.  Labor  unionism  is  becoming  a  religion  which 
must  be  met  at  the  point  where  practical  righteousness  is 
demonstrated.  The  industrial  world  has  felt  the  heavy 
burdens  which  Christianity  offers  to  remove  and  is  waiting 
for  an  utterance  which  will  bring  relief. 

The  educational  interests  of  the  country  want  the  message 
translated  so  as  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  developing  minds 
of  the  student  body.  A  presentation  is  needed  which  has 
the  same  intellectual  adequacy  as  has  the  presentation  of 
those  philosophies  at  which  the  world  has  grasped  during  the 
centuries.  An  evangelism  is  needed  that  knows  no  class  dis¬ 
tinction.  It  must  be  tireless  in  its  efforts.  It  must  know 
people  as  well  as  its  message. 

Methodism  in  its  united  efforts  to  celebrate  the  centenary 
of  its  missionary  activities  in  a  large  way  has  opened  up  to 
the  consciousness  of  its  people  the  opportunity  and  the  chal¬ 
lenge  now  to  go  forth  and  give  the  gospel  to  every  man, 
woman  and  child  of  every  race  and  language  wherever 
human  beings  are  found.  This  challenge  appeals  to  the 
people  and  will  be  met. 


67 


Views  at  Exposition  Grounds 


68 


The  Centenary  and  the  Laity 

By  E.  W.  Halford 

rHE  Centenary  is  a  cry  back  to  first  things.  In  the  be¬ 
ginning  the  church  was  one  body.  The  term  “lay”  was 

not  heard  of  until  wealth  and  pro¬ 
fessionalism  became  dominant.  It 
took  six  centuries  “to  fix  the  me¬ 
morable  distinction  between  laity 
and  clergy,”  using  the  phrase  of 
Gibbon.  Then  ensued  one  thou¬ 
sand  dark  years,  until  the  skies  be¬ 
gan  to  be  streaked  with  the  dawn¬ 
ing  of  the  reformations.  The 
essence  of  these  reformations  was 
the  discovery  of  the  laity  and  their 
essential  function  in  the  Church. 
McGiffert  sums  up  Luther’s  work 
by  saying  that  “he  changed  the 
whole  tone  of  society,  a  new  lay  culture  taking  the  place  of 
the  clerical  culture  of  the  middle  ages.”  Wesley,  following 
with  his  revival,  said,  “Give  me  one  hundred  preachers  who 
fear  nothing  but  sin  and  desire  nothing  but  God,  and  I  care 
not  whether  they  be  clergymen  or  laymen,  they  alone  will 
bring  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  the  earth.” 

The  big  thing  in  the  missionary  revival  movements  of  the 
last  few  years  is  the  recognition  that  “the  evangelism  of  the 
world  is  a  business  rather  than  a  profession,”  and  that  to  get 
the  business  done  business  men  must  be  enlisted  and  made 
to  work  in  the  church.  There  had  not  seemed  to  be  much 
worth  while  for  laymen  to  do.  President  Wilson  recently 
said,  “I  have  been  present  at  some  church  organization  meet¬ 
ings  at  which  nothing  more  important  happened  than  hap¬ 
pened  with  the  Light-foot  Baseball  Club.”  A  good  Metho¬ 
dist  bishop  said  that  “business  men  who  dealt  on  the  streets 
in  hundreds  of  thousands  or  millions  of  dollars,  were  not  like¬ 
ly  to  be  much  interested  in  church  movements  that  were  main¬ 
ly  carried  on  by  selling  strawberries  at  fifteen  cents  a  dish.” 

The  Centenary  has  come  with  its  commanding  challenge. 
There  was  nothing  small  about  the  Centenary  from  the  first, 
and  it  captured  the  imagination  and  gained  the  sympathy  of 
men  of  wide  vision  and  large  hearts.  When  the  far-seeing 
men  launched  the  movement,  not  a  few  wiseacres  wagged 
their  heads  and  said,  as  others  like  them  did  to  Paul,  that 
they  were  “mad.”  But  now  our  entire  Church  and  the 
greater  Church  of  Christ  have  come  to  be  almost  a  universal 
Bedlam.  Men  are  going  “mad”  to  bring  the  kingdom  of 
God  into  the  world.  The  world  went  “mad”  —  rabidly 
■“mad”  —  in  the  great  war,  and  it  was  time  for  the  Church 
to  try  similia  similibus  curantur.  The  prescription  works. 
Not  only  so-called  Christian  men,  but  statesmen,  presidents, 
soldiers,  philosophers  and  “business”  men  are  a  unit  in  de¬ 
claring  that  Christianity  must  be  enthroned  in  the  world  or 
civilization  cannot  be  saved.  “It  is  Christianity  or  chaos.” 

In  our  own  united  Methodist  Church,  as  an  index  of  the 
lay  revival,  there  are  fully  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
Minute  Men  who  have  been  enrolled  for  work.  There  are 
six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  enrolled  in  the  “Fellowship 
of  Intercession.”  There  are  more  than  two  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  Tithing  Stewards;  the  proposition  for  a  million  such 
within  five  years  seems  likely  to  prove  too  small  an  estimate. 
The  Every  Member  Canvass  has  called  into  service  literally 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  men.  In  the  Baptist  communion 
more  than  six  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  have  been  or¬ 
ganized  for  church  work,  and  something  similar  has  taken 
place  in  other  communions.  The  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly  (Northern)  has  just  elected  a  layman  to  be 
Moderator, —  the  first  of  his  kind.  So  far  no  signs  or  por¬ 
tents  have  been  observed  among  the  heavenly  bodies  however 
great  the  disturbance  may  be  among  some  earthly  bodies, 
ecclesiastic  and  otherwise.  It  is  possible  that  in  the  lap  of 
the  gods  there  are  lay  as  well  as  ministerial  General  Super¬ 
intendents  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


Missionary  Centenary  Reviewed 

By  Charles  Sumner  Ward. 

FOR  every  one  of  a  number  of  reasons  the  Methodist 
Missionary  Centenary  has  been  one  of  the  most  re¬ 
markable  campaigns  in  which  it  has 
been  my  privilege  to  participate  in 
half  a  lifetime  given  to  the  direct¬ 
ing  of  great  money-raising  efforts. 

First  of  all,  the  raising  of  $140,- 
000,000  for  the  advancement  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  the  great¬ 
est  enterprise  ever  undertaken  by 
any  Church  in  Christian  history. 

Secondly,  despite  the  huge  sum 
involved,  Centenary  leaders  never 
lost  sight  of  the  spiritual  aims  of 
the  Centenary  nor  allowed  the 
spiritual  element  to  be  obscured. 
Through  the  adaptation  of  modern  methods  of  organization 
and  publicity,  stewardship  and  prayer  and  all  spiritual  values 
were  kept  ever  to  the  fore,  with  the  result  that  Methodism 
has  received  a  spiritual  impetus  and  awakening  such  as  it 
has  perhaps  never  known  before. 

But  the  Missionary  Centenary  is  remarkable  also  for  the 
way  in  which  the  whole  of  Methodism,  with  its  25,000 
pastors  and  its  more  than  6,000,000  members,  was  knit  into 
a  coordinated,  smooth-running  machine  that  functioned  like 
clockwork  in  its  drive  through  to  the  goal. 

Remarkable  also,  and  perhaps  more  hopeful  and  significant 
than  all  the  rest,  is  the  inspiring  fact  of  the  hearty  and  ef¬ 
fective  cooperation  of  the  two  great  bodies  of  Methodists, 
that  of  the  North  and  that  of  the  South.  Aside  from  any 
of  its  other  attainments,  the  Missionary  Centenary  would 
have  been  worth  while  alone  for  the  drawing  together  in  a 
cause  of  these  two  kindred  branches. 

In  the  great  intensive  effort  of  May  18  to  25  the  problem 
was  essentially  one  of  organization.  It  was  almost  a  slogan 
that  “any  Methodist  Church  could  raise  its  quota  more 
easily  in  a  week  than  it  could  in  a  month.”  The  plan  that 
brought  the  highest  success  wherever  it  was  followed  was 
the  one  that  has  resulted  from  years  of  experience  in  all  sorts 
of  religious  and  philanthropic  endeavors. 

It  has  been  intensely  interesting  to  note  what  wonders 
the  principles  used  in  Red  Cross,  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  United 
War  Work  national  campaigns  worked  when  adapted  to  a 
great  denomination’s  needs.  Admitting  no  possibility  of 
extending  the  time  of  the  national  effort,  Methodism  gained 
all  the  strength  and  momentum  resulting  from  united  action. 

Daily  supper  rallies  of  workers  were  a  source  of  great 
stimulus.  There  is  a  magic  in  getting  campaigners  together 
to  eat,  report  and  “swap”  experiences  that  never  fails.  So, 
through  the  loyal  cooperation  of  Methodist  women,  these 
daily  suppers  were  held  throughout  campaign  week  in  thou¬ 
sands  of  Methodist  Churches  from  one  end  of  the  country 
to  the  other.  They  were  a  large  factor  in  whatever  success 
has  been  attained. 

Another  factor  was  the  enlistment  of  leading  Methodist 
laymen  everywhere.  Their  labors  have  been  invaluable  in 
the  Missionary  Centenary,  and  from  the  joy  of  serving 
actively  which  they  derived  the  Church  at  large  will  long 
benefit  by  way  of  increased  interest  and  support. 

Finally,  the  Missionary  Centenary  may  be  looked  upon 
as  Methodism’s  “Plattsburg,”  its  course  of  intensive  training 
for  the  big  things  that  are  ahead  of  the  denomination. 
Through  the  Centenary  American  Methodism  has  learned 
the  full  measure  of  its  own  strength  and  effectiveness.  No 
task  will  daunt  it  henceforth. 

Methodism  is  a  great  dynamo  of  spiritualizing  and  evan¬ 
gelizing  energy,  and  now  for  the  first  time  in  full  effective¬ 
ness,  as  a  result  of  the  Missionary  Centenary,  it  is  “direct- 
connected”  to  the  pressing,  but  no  longer  depressing,  World 
Problems  and  Needs. 


69 


Three  Great  Departments  To  Make 


LIFE  SERVICE 
By  G.  F.  Ream 

N  the  early  days  of  the  Centenary  movement  it  was  real¬ 
ized  that  money  and  prayers  must  find  their  expression 

in  actual  service — that  the  Chris¬ 
tianization  of  the  world  at  home 
and  abroad  is  to  be  accomplished 
by  workers  who  understand  the 
Christian  program  and  who  are 
highly  trained  for  its  accomplish¬ 
ment.  The  surveys  of  our  Chris¬ 
tian  enterprises  throughout  the 
world  very  soon  made  it  clea’*  that 
we  must  employ  many  more  work¬ 
ers,  that  the  degree  of  their  train¬ 
ing  must  be  upon  higher  stand¬ 
ards  than  ever  before,  and  that 
our  entire  system  of  local  churches 
from  which  they  come  must  be  prepared  beyond  all  previous 
records  for  complete  modern  service. 

The  Department  of  Life  Service  therefore  was  organized 
to  arouse  the  young  people  throughout  the  entire  church  to 
a  realization  of  this  mightily  expanded  call  throughout  the 
world ;  to  guide  ministerial  candidates  and  young  laymen  in 
further  preparatory  education ;  and  to  aid  those  already  at 
work  in  becoming  most  effective.  It  shows  them  that  those 
who  are  to  be  selected  must  be  Christian  in  character,  de¬ 
voted  in  spirit  and  must  bring  an  educational  preparation 
and  training  adequate  to  the  new  tasks.  It  guides  them 
finally  to  those  positions  of  service  which  constitute  the 
largest  opportunity  and  the  most  immediate  needs  as  seen 
by  the  various  boards  of  the  Church. 

The  new  call  to  service  is  being  presented  in  all  of  our 
colleges  and  universities,  in  the  summer  conferences  and 
institutes,  in  the  camps  of  the  army  and  navy  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  in  the  local  churches  throughout  the  land. 
Everywhere  the  young  people  are  invited  to  consider  the 
investment  of  their  lives  and  to  make  estimates  of  their 
talents  in  view  of  the  world’s  greatest  needs  and  the  work 
which  the  Christian  church  must  undertake.  Local  churches 
are  being  called  upon  to  nominate  definite  numbers  from 
among  their  capable  young  people  who  could  render  accep¬ 
table  service  when  properly  trained.  These  young  people 
are  taking  courses  of  instruction  in  Christian  work  and  are 
being  advised  toward  higher  education  so  that  as  rapidly  as 
they  become  qualified  they  may  enter  into  their  life  work. 

The  department  is  seeking  ministers,  missionaries  at  home 
and  abroad,  directors  of  religious  education,  college  pro¬ 
fessors,  teachers  in  church  schools,  experts  in  many  profes¬ 
sions,  including  medicine,  engineering,  agriculture,  etc., 
nurses,  church  secretaries,  exceptionally  trained  laymen  (men 
and  women)  for  staff  service  in  local  churches,  deaconesses. 
Every  form  of  Christian  work  has  its  opportunities  here. 

All  the  boards  and  societies  of  the  church  interested  in 
recruiting  Christian  workers  for  any  task  cooperate  in  the 


Department  of  Life  Service  and  present  in  a  united  fashion 
their  needs  for  workers. 

The  time  has  come  to  recognize  in  the  most  practical 
fashion  that  our  lives  are  a  stewardship  under  the  will  of 
God  and  that  all  our  homes  and  churches  are  called  upon 
to  make  contribution  of  their  young  people  to  the  Kingdom 
in  this  high  day  of  opportunity. 

STEWARDSHIP 
By  Ralph  S.  Cushman 

IT  will  make  an  interesting  story  when,  some  day,  the 
account  is  fully  written.  For  the  present  purpose,  it  is 

enough  to  go  back  to  the  fall  of 
1917,  in  the  annual  session  of  a 
Methodist  Conference,  when  it 
was  argued  that  “If  this  confer¬ 
ence  will  carry  through  a  Steward¬ 
ship  Educational  Campaign,  with 
a  definite  goal  to  enroll  ‘Ten 
Thousand  Tithing  Stewards  in 
the  Central  New  York  Confer¬ 
ence,’  it  will  not  be  long  before  we 
will  hear  a  larger  slogan  for  ‘A 
Million  Tithers  in  Methodism.’  ” 
The  sequel  of  the  story  is  be¬ 
ginning  to  be  well  known.  In 
the  two  branches  of  Methodism  there  are  already  enrolled 
approximately  one  quarter  of  the  million,  and  what  was 
thought  of  at  first  as  a  five-year  task  seems  now  possible  of 
accomplishment  in  less  than  half  the  time. 

The  preparatory  Centenary  Conference  at  Niagara  and 
Junaluska  prepared  for  the  Stewardship  movement  in  this 
language:  “We  welcome,  therefore,  as  fundamental  to  this 
entire  world  program,  the  proposal  of  the  Centenary  Com¬ 
mission  that  it  shall  provide  for  a  revival  of  study  of  Chris¬ 
tian  Stewardship,  and  the  payment  of  the  tithe  as  a  material 
acknowledgement.” 

A  few  months  ago  a  Presbyterian  writer,  in  an  interde¬ 
nominational  paper,  declared  that  “the  stewardship  cam¬ 
paigns  in  the  Methodist  and  Presbyterian  churches,  and  the 
new  slogan  ‘A  Million  Tithers  in  Methodism,’  will  un¬ 
doubtedly  change  the  climate  for  the  whole  church  of  Christ 
in  the  United  States.” 

Another,  a  Methodist  leader,  recently  announced  that  he 
did  “not  know  any  one  thing  in  a  generation  that  has  gripped 

the  church  as  the  call  for  ‘A  Million  Tithers  in  Method- 

•  >  >> 
ism. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  Centenary 
Stewardship  program  is  much  larger  in  its  purpose  than  the 
enrollment  of  a  million  tithing  stewards.  Proportionate 
giving,  with  the  tithe  as  a  minimum,  is  only  the  gateway  to 
the  much  larger  program  of  educating  the  entire  church  in 
the  teachings  of  Christian  Stewardship. 

The  prime  necessity  of  this  day  is  to  bring  men  to  see  the 
vital  relation  between  the  acquisition  and  spending  of  money 


70 


The  Centenary  Campaign  Permanent 


and  Christian  consecration.  It  is  clearly  evident  that  the 
program  of  world  redemption  is  being  held  up  by  church 
members  who  are  robbing  God.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
“The  money  that  belongs  by  every  right  to  God,  but  is  kept 
back  from  Him  by  His  people  is  probably  the  greatest  hin¬ 
drance  to  vital  spirituality  that  there  is  in  the  world  today.” 

Accordingly,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Stewardship  move¬ 
ment  is  a  spiritual  crusade  —  a  revival  of  religion  —  and 
not  merely  a  program  to  secure  adequate  provisions  of 
money.  The  slogan  “A  Million  Tithers  in  Methodism”  is 
in  reality  a  call  for  a  million  Methodists  —  and  more  —  who 
will  put  God  and  His  Kingdom  first;  who  will  so  genuinely 
believe  in  God’s  ownership  and  man’s  stewardship  that  they 
will  acknowledge  this  through  the  holy  habit  of  laying  a 
tenth  of  their  income  on  the  altar  as  a  minimum  acknow¬ 
ledgement. 

A  Methodist  bishop  has  said,  “A  revival  in  the  realm  of 
Christian  stewardship  will  bring  every  other  blessing  needed 
in  the  church  of  Christ.” 

INTERCESSION 
By  JV.  E.  Doughty 

IN  uncounted  hidden  places  in  the  home  land  and  in  the 
far  fields,  the  streams  of  prayer  have  been  ascending  un¬ 
ceasingly  to  God  for  a  new  day  of 
blessing  and  power  in  the  church. 
Many  a  missionary  at  home  and 
abroad  has  cried  with  agony  that 
the  church  might  feel  with  him  the 
burden  of  the  baffling  tasks  in  the 
field  where  he  was  working  against 
great  odds  to  win  and  hold  the 
frontiers  of  the  kingdom.  The 
Centenary  is  God’s  answer. 

It  is  impossible  to  trace  all  the 
streams  that  at  last  united  in  this 
spiritual  crusade,  but  it  is  true  that 
a  group  of  men  who  had  been 
drawn  close  together  in  the  pressure  of  kingdom  campaign¬ 
ing  were  led  to  pray  with  special  intensity  and  reality  that 
the  church  might  be  lifted  to  new  heights  of  devotion  and 
achievement.  A  deep  and  wonderful  fellowship  in  prayer 
has  glorified  the  lives  of  those  who  have  carried  the  responsi¬ 
bilities  of  the  Centenary. 

Wonderful  have  been  the  experiences  of  Centenary 
leaders  in  both  branches  of  American  Episcopal  Methodism. 
At  the  Clifton  Hotel,  Niagara  Falls,  in  September,  1917, 
preceding  the  first  meeting  of  the  World  Program  Com¬ 
mittee  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  members  of  the 
staff  and  others  spent  several  days  in  making  final  prepara¬ 
tions  and  in  prayer.  The  Sunday  before  the  meeting  of  the 
committee  was  a  never-to-be-forgotten  day  of  fellowship 
with  God.  The  results  were  evident  in  the  vision  and  cour¬ 
age  and  faith  which  came  to  the  committee  as  they  faced  for 
the  first  time  a  part  of  the  tremendous  task  as  revealed  by 


the  survey  and  as  they  approved  the  Centenary  plans,  in¬ 
cluding  what  seemed  at  that  hour  an  overwhelming  budget. 
After  the  victory  of  those  days  the  final  outcome  was  never 
in  doubt. 

The  Committee  of  One  Hundred  on  World  Program  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  met  at  the  Chisca 
Hotel,  Memphis,  March  19-21,  1918.  Hundreds  were  in¬ 
terceding  for  that  meeting,  and  it  was  an  occasion  of  spiritual 
power  unsurpassed  up  to  that  time  in  the  history  of  the 
church.  The  action  of  the  General  Conference  which  met 
in  Atlanta,  in  May,  1918,  unanimously  and  enthusiastically 
adopting  recommendations  of  the  Memphis  meeting,  was 
another  token  of  victory  through  prayer.  So  also  prayer 
prepared  the  way  for  victory  in  the  Joint  Conference  at 
Lake  Junaluska  and  in  many  other  great  meetings. 

During  the  two  days  preceding  the  meeting  of  the  Dis¬ 
trict  Superintendents  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
in  June,  1918,  a  group  of  leaders  spent  hours  in  prayer  at 
Columbus,  and  a  special  request  for  intercession  for  the 
meeting  was  sent  to  sixty  thousand  people  throughout  the 
world.  There  can  be  no  question  that  herein  lies  the  ex¬ 
planation  of  the  gripping  power  of  the  days  that  followed 
when  God  poured  out  His  blessing  upon  the  leaders  of  His 
Church.  At  various  meetings  of  the  staff,  notably  on  a 
Sunday  morning  at  Wallace  Lodge,  in  September  of  1918, 
the  power  of  God  has  been  manifested  and  the  conviction 
has  been  constantly  deepening  that  the  church  was  going 
God’s  way. 

The  Fellowship  of  Intercession  was  organized  early  in  the 
campaign  and  a  widespread  appeal  for  prayer  made  to  the 
church.  More  than  650,000  have  enrolled  and  the  end  is 
not  yet.  The  first  Sunday  of  the  Four  Weeks’  Stewardship 
Program  has  been  given  to  enlisting  intercessors  and  in  the 
conferences,  conventions,  and  other  public  meetings  of  the 
Centenary,  special  emphasis  has  been  given  to  the  sources  of 
spiritual  power. 

In  a  few  short  months  about  six  million  copies  of  pamph¬ 
lets  on  prayer  have  been  circulated  in  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church,  and  about  five  million  copies  in  the  Church, 
South. 

A  multitude  of  pastors  and  others  have  testified  that  the 
spiritual  quickening  which  has  come  in  answer  to  prayer 
has  been  the  greatest  single  factor  in  bringing  success  in  the 
Centenary  campaign. 

No  movement  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church  has 
ever  attempted  to  enroll  and  train  so  many  intercessors  as 
have  been  enlisted  in  the  Centenary,  yet  only  a  beginning 
has  been  made.  Thrilling  possibilities  of  undreamed  of 
achievements  lie  ahead  as  the  Conservation  Committees  plan 
to  follow  up  and  extend  their  feature  of  the  campaign. 

As  American  Methodism  makes  fresh  discovery  of  God 
through  fellowship  with  Him,  she  will  be  lifted  to  ever 
higher  levels  of  spiritual  vision  and  power  and  go  forward 
with  unfailing  strength  during  all  the  coming  days. 


71 


The  Trumpet  Call  to  Methodism! 


“The  field  is  the  world---’’ 
“The  world  is  my  parish.’’ 

-JOHN  WESLEY 


STONEMAN  PRESS,  COLUMBUS,  OHIO 


73 


The  Continuation  of  the  Centenary 

The  Centenary  Celebration,  in  the  commemoration  of  the  hundredth  year 
of  missionary  activities  of  American  Methodism,  has  been  a  greater  success  than 
even  its  most  ardent  advocates  anticipated.  The  Celebration,  however,  has  been 
but  an  incident  in  the  great  program  of  missionary  advance  now  being  conducted 
as  the  Missionary  Centenary  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

The  Methodist  Missionary  Centenary  is  a  three-fold  program  for  the  dedica¬ 
tion  of  the  total  resources  of  the  Church, — material,  personal  and  spiritual — to  the 
further  conquest  of  the  world  in  terms  of  the  spiritual  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ. 
It  means  the  awakening  of  the  Church  to  a  new  sense  of  the  world’s  supreme  need 
of  Jesus  Christ;  the  evangelization  of  the  peoples  of  the  whole  world  in  His  name; 
and  the  spiritualization  of  the  processes  that  shall  enter  into  a  rebuilding  of  a  war- 
ridden  world,  in  order  that  a  permanent  peace,  based  on  Love  instead  of  Law,  may 
prevail  throughout  the  earth. 

This  program  of  the  Centenary,  which,  in  its  activities  for  “Intercession,” 
“Life  Service,”  and  “Stewardship,”  has  already  achieved  so  much  in  the  lifting  of 
the  prayer  life,  development  of  the  spirit  of  sacrifice,  and  the  accumulation  of  mil¬ 
lions  of  dedicated  wealth,  will  not  only  be  carried  on  aggressively  throughout  the 
five-year  period  as  originally  outlined,  but  a  program  is  being  planned  by  our 
Bishops  and  other  leaders  to  continue  indefinitely  the  work  of  these  various  de¬ 
partments  until  the  total  resources  of  the  Church  have  been  dedicated  to  the  ends 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  A  definite  program  of  evangelism  is  being  planned 
which  shall  be  prosecuted  as  systematically  and  faithfully  as  has  been  the  cam¬ 
paign  for  finance.  The  Life  Service  Department  is  just  beginning  its  thorough 
and  detailed  program  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  the  young  life  of  the  Church 
for  the  further  Christian  conquest  of  the  world.  The  Department  of  Stewardship 
will  continue  its  program  of  education  and  inspiration  until  the  whole  Church 
has  recognized  its  “Stewardship  to  God,”  and  its  total  material  resources  have 
been  laid  on  His  altars  of  service. 

Therefore,  the  Missionary  Centenary  must  not  be  regarded  as  a  closed  incident 
with  the  closing  of  these  halls  of  celebration  and  jubilee.  Nor  is  the  total  obliga¬ 
tion  of  the  Church  in  relation  to  a  new  world  situation  to  be  met  by  a  mere 
spasmodic  effort  toward  missionary  advance.  The  Church  has  caught  a  new 
vision  of  the  challenge  of  her  Lord  to  go  into  all  the  world  and  “disciple  in  My 
name,”  and  a  new  standard  of  religious  life  and  practice  has  been  set  from  which 
the  Church  shall  never  recede. 

The  Church  Universal  must  continue  on  this  new  basis  until  the  world  shall 
not  only  have  been  evangelized,  but  all  the  processes  of  life  and  thought  have  been 
regenerated  in  terms  of  the  personal  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  ethics  of  his  gospel 
shall  have  become  the  foundation  of  all  governments,  and  these  shall  have  become 
a  Brotherhood  of  Nations  under  the  Lordship  of  a  common  Father. 


BIRDSEYE  VIEW  OF  THE 
CENTENARY  CELEBRATION  GROUNDS 


COVER  BY  THE  NEW  COL  UHBl/S  LITHOGRAPH  CO  COIUMHUS  o 


